Dangerous Secrets
by Susan Popplewell
Summary: A girl and her mother wash up on Tracy Island. In the deceased mother's belongings, they discover a USB device with photographs and a copy of a heavily encoded message which sends them on an adventure. And I do own Rae Levy.
1. Chapter 1

**I decided to write this in response to AryaUchiha1999 writing challenge. I do not own any Thunderbirds characters in this story.**

 **Chapter 1**

It was **5:45 am** in the morning and the Tracys hated being woken up early. Especially after a big birthday celebration the night before. But the alarm had been sounded on the western perimeter of Tracy Island and Kayo Kyrano had decided to go check it out. She went alone, but had told everyone else to be ready in case she needed back up.

It was also a freezing morning as it was the middle of winter and even though Kayo was dressed for it, she still felt the cold bite of the wind as it blew around the island. She pulled her jacket closer to her and swept the beam from the light on her helmet around. The alarm had been triggered on the beach, so that's where she was headed.

"How's everything, Kayo?" John Tracy asked over the comms on Kayo's suit. John was the space monitor up in Thunderbird 5.

"Everything _seems_ okay, John. I haven't arrived at the Western Perimeter yet," Kayo replied. She had a secret crush on the space man. But, something _had_ set off the alarm. And whenever something set off the alarm on Tracy Island, it was always something bad. _It can't be the Hood. Or the Mechanic_ , Kayo thought. _They've both been arrested_. She had bought her gun along just in case and pulled it out now as she neared the area. Kayo turned off the safety catch just in case.

Arriving at the western part of the beach, the African nineteen-year-old swept the area with the life scanner. It showed two persons lying on the sand half a mile ahead. She shone the light around the beach. Did not see anything.

She walked on cautiously. _Why were the two people lying down? Were they injured? Dead? Dying?_ Kayo shone the head torch around the beach after she reached the spot. But she did not see anything. _Where are they?_ She thought. Then, she turned towards the shore line and found them. Two people were half submerged in the water, lying in the sand. She turned her comms on again. "Scott?"

"Yes, Kayo?"

"I've found something. Two people lying half submerged in water," Kayo reported, her eyes on the two prone figures. _I wonder how they got here?_ Kayo wondered.

"How do they look?" Jeff's calm voice came over the comms in her helmet. They had found him eight months ago and she was still becoming used to seeing him around the place. But it was good. She had her 'father' back.

Kayo replied that she was going in for a closer look. "Be careful, sis." This time it was Gordon, the squid, who spoke.

"Always," she assured them and proceeded forward. She knelt down beside the nearest person. The person was a female, looked about twelve or thirteen, had blonde hair that was soaking wet, and was dressed in a light blue, button-up top and khaki trousers. Kayo placed two of her fingers on the girl's neck. There was a pulse, but very faint. And in this cold, she was not going to survive much longer. The girl also had several scratch's and bruises on her face. Kayo pulled her out of the water and further up the beach until the female was under the canopy of one of the palm trees.

She went back to the other body. This one had short auburn hair and was lying on the person's stomach. Kayo flipped this body over with her boot. Also female, with a pilot's uniform on. Her face looked really blue. Kayo felt for a pulse. There was none. She pulled the body out of the water and searched for any sign of identification.

She found a wallet, pilot's licence and a USB device. Kayo called into Jeff and informed him of what she had discovered. She noted that near to where she found the two females, was a piece of wreckage from what she assumed was a plane crash. She then pocketed the wallet, licence and the USB, picked up the girl and headed back to the house.


	2. Chapter 2

**PACIFIC OCEAN**

The ship slowly cruised along the Pacific Ocean, using the onboard scanner to try and locate the plane wreckage on the ocean sea bed. It was mostly an automated task, but there were some people on board. There was Captain McSmith, the First Mate Jessica Hawkins and three other crew members – two other men and a woman.

Hawkins and McSmith were in the Captain's Cabin looking over the map of the area they were supposed to check out. "The plane is estimated to have crashed here," and McSmith pointed to a spot on the map. "But, to be safe, we are supposed to check all of this. So, we have a long search ahead of us."

"Do you think it's possible that anyone survived?" Hawkins enquired.

"There's a slight chance. Slight. But, most probably, no."

One of the other male crew members strolled along the deck. He had blonde hair cut short all the time as it would become curly otherwise (and he did not like that); brown eyes and a scar along his forhead. One of his eyes was cybernetic. Reaching up, he turned on a skin-coloured earpiece he had on one of his ears as someone was calling him through it.

"What is it, boss?" the man whispered, looking around to make sure no-one was around.

"Agent 15, have they found the wreckage yet?" a deep voice with a thick Arabian accent enquired impatiently.

"No, sir. Still searching," Agent 15 replied.

"Well, it better be found soon. Once we find the wreckage, we need to find it before any of the Search and Rescue team do," and with that, Deep Voice hung up.

 **TRACY ISLAND**

Virgil Tracy and Rae Levy finished putting the bandaides on the girls cuts and bruises. Rae Levy was the Tracy boys' cousin and took shifts on Thunderbird 5 with John Tracy. She had auburn hair and green eyes and was Virgil's girlfriend. When she was not spending her six months' in Thunderbird 5, she helped the rest of her cousins on missions and was Tracy Island's doctor, alongside Virgil.

"There," Virgil said, satisfied with their work. "That should help her, and she's warming up nicely."  
"I'm glad," Rae said. Kayo and Scott had retrieved the body and Brains was in the other end of the Island's hospital doing an autopsy.

"Well, we might as well go and see what clues the others have gathered from the woman's belongings," and Virgil took Rae's hand and they went up the stairs to the lounge where Grandma Tracy, Kayo, Alan, Jeff, Gordon, Scott and a holographic image of John were all waiting for Rae and Virgil. The USB, the wallet and pilot's licence were all on the table. They sat down on the couches. "Alright. What have we got?" Virgil asked.

"Nothing. We've been waiting for you," Alan replied.

Jeff stood up, marched over to the table and opened the wallet. He emptied the contents on the table. There was $200 which was soaking wet, credit cards, a library card, and an ID. Jeff picked up the ID – which was wet as well – and squinted at it to try and read it. "Di...Diana...Winters," he slowly read out. "Born...18th of...July...2035." Her pilot's licence was too faded and wet to be any use.

John was already searching on TB5's computer system. He hacked into the Global Computer Database to get unlimited access and typed in 'Diana Winters', making sure he covered his tracks. "Oh, sugar honey ice tea!" he exclaimed. "There are at least two hundred and sixty Diana Winters out there!"

"Language. Well, why don't you add 'pilot' to the search?" suggested Grandma Tracy.

"It's worth a try, Grandma," John agreed. He typed in 'Diana Winters pilot'. Thankfully, it only showed up with one person. He clicked on the file on her that was kept by the World Parliament. The photo of her looked like a younger version of the dead body Kayo found. He showed it to his family on Tracy Island.

Scott jumped up. "That's Diana Winters!"

"Uh...yeah. Try and keep up," grinned Gordon.

Scott glared at his younger brother. "I mean I know her!" he snapped. "She was the wife of my wingman and best mate in the Air Force – Brenton Philips."

"I didn't know Brenton was ever married," Virgil commented.

"Uh..Is anyone going to clue me in here?" Alan quipped. Gordon and Rae both nodded to indicate that they also had no clue who Brenton Philips was.

"Brenton Philips was my wingman in the Air Force," Scott explained. "He and I became best mates. Both looking out for each other. But, when I quit the Air Force, I did not hear from him for two years. Then he suddenly contacted me to let me know that he had married Diana Winters and that she was pregnant with their first child. By this time, Dad and Mum had started International Rescue. I kept visiting them whenever I could during those once a month work leaves and they kept visiting us. Then, a year after you were born, Alan, Brenton was killed when he tried to save his daughter, Kerry, from three large, vicious wild dogs. I saw Diana and Kerry, who was only three at the time, at Brenton's funeral. I did not see them after that."

"So, Diana became a pilot," John finished. Then he voiced the thought they were all wondering. "Who's the girl? Could she be Kerry?"

They were all silent. "We might as well see if the USB device works," Jeff decided, breaking the silence. He picked it up, went over to his desk and plugged it into his laptop. The others watched as the contents were loaded onto the laptop and Jeff began to click through it all. He suddenly leaned forward. "What the hell..?" he murmured.

"What is it, Jeff?" Kayo asked.

"Hang on," and Jeff typed something into the laptop, sending the contents to the holographic display unit incorporated into the table. A holo-image of a piece of paper showed up. On it was twelve rows of criss-crossing lines with small triangles at one end of each line.

"What on earth is _that_?" Grandma Tracy asked. No-one had any idea what on earth they were. Except for Alan.

"See? This is proof that aliens exist!" he said. "This is their own language! Winters has been in contact with them!"

Rae tried to be polite and not laugh. "I'm sorry," she said, and burst out laughing. Alan glared at her. "But that's not _quite_ accurate," she continued once she had recovered. "It's Akkadian. A dead language."

Alan, who was determined to entertain the idea a little longer, would not give up. "It's the language of aliens, that humans have learnt."

Scott chuckled. "Sorry, bro. But there is no such thing as aliens." He looked at Rae. "But, how do you know it's Akkadoan?"

"Akkad _ian_ ," Rae repeated, emphasising the last few letters. "I not like to blow my own trumpet, but I have a PhD in foreign languages. But, specifically, dead languages aka languages that are no longer spoken," she explained. "I'll look at it later. Is there anything else on the USB?"

Jeff clicked on the next picture. It was a photo of the Twin Towers as they were collapsing. The next one was a picture of JFK just before he was shot. Another was a picture of what appeared to be a room with people in khaki uniforms practicing arms drills. Then there was some of ruins of buildings in the countryside. There was also close-up photos of people's faces. Mostly well-known ones – Queen Bridgette IV, the Australian Prime Minister Gegory Lucas, the North Korean dictator, the Hood. But there was three unknown ones. One was of a male who had blonde hair cut short and a scar along his forehead, a female with black hair and blue eyes and looked Japanese and the final one showed a dark-skinned man with hazel-brown eyes, tattoos on his face and dark brown hair with a tuft sticking up. "What have we got here?" Jeff wondered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you guys for your reviews!**

Jeff entered the Hospital room where Brains, International Rescue's engineer and designer of the Thunderbirds and who was Iranian, was just finishing placing the body of Diana Winters in a steel coffin. Brains locked the coffin and looked up at Jeff Tracy, the famous billionaire who was an ex-astronaut who had been to the moon and the first person to walk on Mars. He shifted his glasses, which were always at a wonky angle. "H-hello M-mr T-Tracy. H-how c-can I h-help you?" Hiram Kenneth Hackenbacker enquired.

"Hello, Brains. What are the results of the autopsy?" Jeff asked.

"W-well, b-based on t-the w-wing p-p-part th-that K-Kayo found l-lying on t-the b-beach, ah..., I th-think th-that Mrs W-Winters w-was involved in a p-p-plane c-crash. T-the autopsy also c-confirms t-that s-s-suspicion. S-she d-died on i-impact," Brains replied.

"John says that, according to the GCD that this Diana Winters is – _was_ – a pilot," Jeff commented.

Brains nodded. "S-she w-was p-p-probably flying t-the p-p-p-aircraft," Brains said. "W-what d-do w-we d-do w-with t-the body, M-mr T-Tracy?" the engineer enquired.

Jeff thought about what to do. "We should probably call it in to the authorities," he decided and then he turned and headed back to his office.

Jeffrey "Jeff" Donald Tracy's office was neat and tidy. Everything was in it's right place and not one speck of dust could be found in there. That was what the man was like and how he liked things to be. He still could not get Gordon to keep his room tidy, though. But, that happened after Jeff went missing, so Jeff realized that that was how Gordon had dealt with his grief. Now that he was back, Jeff hoped that his fourth son's room would become tidy again. He sat down at his chair. He decided to turn on the news to see if there was anything about a plane crash recently. He flipped a switch on his desk and a holographic TV came up. He used some buttons on his desk to flick through the news channels. After trying several, he came to 8News, the Australian news show that had come up six years ago in 2054 that always aired in the afternoon with the latest world headlines. On 8News, the main news reporter – Thomas Barry – was reporting on a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean. Jeff was all ears.

"Two days ago, an AirBus 756 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, around **1:34 pm** , at the location of

 **27°16'05.0"S 134°57'54.9"W**. The Global Defence Force Search and Rescue team has found the wreckage. It is ruled by the enquiry that the plane's engines suddenly failed and stalled during flight, possibly due to fuel shortages, (the jury's still out on that), and the plane nose-dived into the ocean, disintergrating on impact. The AirBus 756 was being piloted at the time by Ms. Diana Winters and was a cargo plane. Ms. Winter's daughter, Kerry Philips, was on board at the time, as she was training to be a pilot. Their bodies have not been found and no-one knows their fate. Back to you, Darryl."

Jeff swiftly turned off the television and picked up his phone, dialling Colonel Laura Casey of the GDF.

Alan and Rae quietly entered the patient's room where the girl was still sleeping. They were carrying some supplies in. Rae and Alan placed them on the floor by Virgil's feet where he stood with a clipboard and was ticking off the boxes, opening them to be sure that everything was intact and not chipped or broken. "Oh, good," Virgil smiled at them. "Alan did not break anything this time."

Rae giggled as Alan scowled. "Very funny," he whispered so as not to wake up the girl. Rae looked at the girl, who was stirring and making noises in her sleep.

"Virge," she whispered, pointing at the girl. "She's coming around."

Agent 15 quickly disembarked off the ship and made his way to the GDF plane. Once inside, he made his way to the toilets section. He stepped inside one of the cubicles in the mens' and typed a quick text to his boss:

 _ **"What leads to we have to the USB?"**_

This phone that Agent 15 had was specifically designed to be untraceable to the GDF so he could safely send that message. There was a few minutes before his phone vibrated (as he had switched it on 'silent'). He checked the ID. Blank, as was all from the man. He checked the message and received a shock.

 _ **"24, I have just heard some disturbing news about you. Call me NOW!"**_


	4. Chapter 4

Agent 15 was surprised and frightened. His _other_ boss had suddenly contacted him. _Has he discovered that I am working for his adversary as well?_ The agent wondered. The female that also worked with him, a Japanese lady, would not have told as she was also working for the adversary. But before he could dial the number, his phone vibrated. This time the caller was Colonel Casey, head of the Global Defence Force.

He quickly accepted the call, putting it on speaker. The other guy could wait. "Yes, Colonel Casey?" he said, composing himself.

"Lieutenant Bosworth, I have an assignment for you," Casey informed him with her monotonous tone she always used.

 _Oh, good_ , the man known as Bosworth thought. _Gives me a chance to avoid him a little bit longer_. "What is it, Colonel?" he enquired.

"I have just received a call from Jeffrey Donald Tracy. He has just called in to say that he has found the pilot's corpse washed ashore on his island. You and I are going to pay him a visit to run an official investigation. The usual rigmarole," Casey said.

Bosworth's ears perked up. Diana Winter's body had been found! _A lead to the USB_ , he realized. "What time to we leave?"

"Right now. I'll meet you at my chopper in ten minutes." Casey went to hang up, then remembered something. "Oh. Just one other thing, Bosworth," she added. "Tell that Japanese woman...my second-in-command...Colonel Akane to come with us."

"Right away, Colonel." They hung up. Bosworth pocketed his phone. Perfect! Colonel Casey had unwittingly led them to the USB, and had requested his mate, "Akane" to come as well, who was also helping to search for the USB. Things could not have gone better!

 **TRACY ISLAND**

Rae poured a drink for the awaking girl from a jug of water that her and Virgil always kept in the medical unit just in case their patients (or themselves) ever became thirsty. Virgil glanced at her and noticed what she had done. "Good idea, love," he said. Just then, the girl opened her eyes and looked around. She started and looked frightened at being in a strange place. She looked at Rae and Virgil apprehensively, but once she saw Alan she relaxed and even smiled a bit. "You look like my dad when he was a teenager," she said quietly.

Alan looked back and forth between the girl and Virgil, the head doctor, wondering what to do. Virgil subtly motioned for him to come forward and talk. Then, Virgil motioned to Rae to keep an eye on things while he quickly left, intending to tell his father. "Hello," Alan said. "I'm Alan. Alan Tracy."

"I'm Kerry Philips," the girl said. Kerry cocked her head slightly to the side and studied Alan with narrowed eyes, like she was thinking. "Tracy...Trac-!" She sat up a little straighter. "I vaguely recollect a guy my dad knew called S..Scott Tracy. I last saw him when I was three," Kerry said to Alan.

 _So this is Winters daughter_ , Rae realized. _Poor girl, losing her mother. What's going to happen to her?_ She noticed that Kerry had immediately taken to Alan, which she thought was a good thing. Alan brightened up. "Scott's my brother," Alan said. "He remembers you, too!"

Kerry looked pleased. "That's great! Mum said he was always a good kid."

Alan chuckled. "Kid? Scott's always serious! Doesn't allow us to have any fun as he is rather protective."

The girl laughed. "According to my mum, Scott was always rather childish. Playing pranks, not taking life too seriously. But she liked him. I remembered he always played games with me when he came to visit."

Alan and Rae looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "And we thought we knew him," Rae murmured. Kerry then looked at her.

"Who are you?" Kerry asked.

Rae smiled. "My name is Rae Levy. I'm a nurse. You had some cuts on your face, so the doctor and I have been taking care of you," Rae explained.

Kerry frowned. "Where am I?"

 **COLONEL CASEY'S CHOPPER**

Bosworth and Akane, real name Mary Simmons, were inside the chopper. Colonel Casey had just finished briefing them on what Bosworth and 'Akane' were supposed to do while one of the other members of the GDF was piloting the chopper to Tracy Island. Simmons and Casey were supposed to go inside Jeff's house while Bosworth and the pilot were to stay behind to keep an eye on the chopper.

"So, why does a world-famous billionaire and ex-astronaut, who's grandfather founded NASA, and himself travelled through space, who carved the way for NASA to go and colonise Mars, want to move onto an island with his children and his mother?" Simmons asked.

Simmons suspected that Casey knew why, but that she was not about to tell them that. "Maybe because he likes peace and quiet," the colonel replied.

"Approaching Tracy Island," the pilot reported.

"Good," Casey said. She pulled out a holo-projector and called Tracy Island. A holo-image of an aging Jeff Tracy appeared. "Jeff, we are approaching the island. Going to land in approximately..." she quickly checked her watch, "four minutes. Is the heli-pad ready for us?"

 _Heli-pad? How advanced is this island?_ Simmons wondered. "Yes, Colonel. All ready. Permission granted to land," Jeff replied, cheekly adding the last bit.

Colonel Casey ended the call with a curt, "The GDF does not need permission to do anything."

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

After the chopper had landed, and Simmons and Casey had disembarked, Bosworth pulled out his phone to send a text message to the Arabian man and his other boss, when the pilot turned around and aimed a gun at his head. "Put down the phone," the pilot ordered. Bosworth tried to reach for his gun. "Don't!" Bosworth stopped. The pilot's face seemed to be suddenly fuzzy. Then, the face changed to his other boss. One he had forgotten that it was a good idea never to cross.

The Hood.


	5. Chapter 5

Jeff Tracy cordially shook Colonel Casey's hand. He noticed that Casey was becoming more and more strict and insisted things be done through the GDF – the 'proper' way as she referred to it as. She did not even smile in greeting. "Hello, Jeffrey," she greeted formally.

"Hello, Colonel Casey," Jeff replied, deciding not to mention that he preferred to be called 'Jeff'.

She looked around the room where the rest of the family was gathered. "Where's the body?" She enquired, looking back at him.

"Come with me," Jeff said, turning around and leading her to an elevator nearby. The woman that was introduced as Colonel Akane followed them. He looked at Casey. "Is she coming with us?" he asked quietly.

Casey nodded. "Yes. I trust Brains's conclusion of his autopsy, but the World Parliament's rules on this is explicit. There has to be at least two autopsies to confirm the cause of death," she replied. "Don't worry," she said, realising the cause of his question, "she doesn't know about...you know. And I'll make sure she doesn't find out."

Jeff relaxed. "Thank you," he said. By then, they had arrived at the elevator. They all stepped inside and Jeff hit the 'Medical Unit' to where Brains had stored the body in a steel coffin.

After the elevator doors closed, Grandma Tracy, who was ninety-eight, slowly turned to Kayo and Scott. "You two need to go and fetch Kerry. Jeff wants her brought up so that Casey and Akane can question her," she ordered.

 **COLONEL CASEY'S CHOPPER**

"I thought you were in Paris, enjoying a holiday," Bosworth commented, rather surprised and terrified. He noticed the Hood was holding his holo-disguise device, which the Hood tucked away in his trouser pocket.

"For future reference, do not trust anything anyone says," the Hood said tersely. "I had a feeling that I could not trust you and Simmons. Turned out I was right. I made up that lie about Paris so that I could...check you two out," he added.

Bosworth gulped. He realized that if the Hood, or someone the Hood had hired, had been monitoring him, that they must know about-

"Yes," the Hood said, knowing what Bosworth was thinking. "I know about everything. I don't always like to get my hands dirty, but this time it was worth it."

 **MEDICAL UNIT**

Akane, Casey and Jeff exited the elevator and Jeff lead them to the steel coffin where Brains had placed Winters. He kept glancing at Akane. She was Japanese, and her face looked familiar. Someone's face he had seen before, but he could not remember where. He decided to be cautious with her. He went over to the coffin. "Mr Tracy?" Akane piped up.

Jeff looked at her. "Yes?"

"Was there anything in the body?" she asked.

"Yes. Organs, lungs. The heart," he quipped.

"Sorry. I meant to say _on_ the body," she corrected herself.

He paused as he considered the question. He pretended to be trying to remember. Jeff suddenly remembered where he had seen her before and knew he could not tell her the whole truth. "Wallet, pilot's licence. But they were rather soaked, so did not last long," he told her.

Akane nodded and pointed at the coffin. "Let's get on with it, shall we?" she said.

 **COLONEL CASEY'S CHOPPER**

Bosworth waited for the Hood to continue speaking. "Tell me," the Hood seethed, firing a silenced bullet onto the edge of his chair close to his legs. He smiled when Bosworth jumped in fright. "Why would my Chaos Crew decide to collaborate with someone else? An Arabian, I believe?"  
Bosworth shuddered. "I did not betray you. Neither did Mary," he quickly said.

The Hood chuckled. "That I know. ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

"We...we were contacted by the Arabian-"

"Details. Names."

"Azizullah. We do not know anything else," Bosworth said, fear making him tell everything. "He said that, as we are mercenaries, he had a job for us. You had created your invention up in space and had told us to stop causing chaos – consequently halting our payments. We needed the money." He paused to swallow.

"Don't give me excuses! Give me answers!" the Hood thundered.

"H-he said that a conspiratorialist, a female by the name of Diana Winters, had discovered some secrets about him that he did not want made public. That she was gaining more and more evidence of some connections he had with others and some other sinister secrets, along with others _including you_. He said that she was going to pilot a cargo plane soon and that he had orders from the others to have her eliminated. That's what we have been doing – trying to protect you as well. Azizullah had found out that she had kept the information stored in some device and that me and Mary were supposed to find the device and give it to him," Bosworth said.

He watched as the Hood seemed to be thinking over what he had said. But he did not take his eyes off of him. "Is that why we are on Tracy Island, the secret base of International Rescue?"

Bosworth was surprised, but nodded. He was relieved when the Hood accepted what he had told him.

"Alright. I want you to do a job for me."

 **T/B/T/B/**

After five hours, the autopsy was complete and matched Brains' conclusions. Casey and Akane had also finished the interrogation. Kerry had tried to talk about what had happened, but was rather upset about Diana, so Jeff convinced Casey and Akane to give her time and that he would call them when Kerry was ready to talk.

Casey and Akane walked off with brisk goodbyes and headed back for the chopper. Once onboard and buckled up, Casey turned to the pilot. "Hood, did you get Bosworth to do what I wanted?" she asked.

"Yes, Colonel," the Hood affirmed.

Bosworth was rather shocked. "Casey?! You, the head of the law, one of the strongest advocators against the Hood, is working with _him!?_ "

Casey smiled. "Shocking, isn't it?"

 **As you can see, the Hood does know who the Tracys' are, but could not do anything to them as he was on orders of Colonel Casey.**


	6. Chapter 6

**After the chopper departed with Casey, Akane, Bosworth and, unkown to the Tracys', the Hood, there was a _beep!_ and a holographic image of John Tracy shone from his picture. He looked rather concerned. "What is it, John?" Jeff questioned.**

 **"I've been trying to contact you for ages and have only now been able to get through to you," John said.**

 **The others were rather shocked. "What? Why?" Kayo enquired.**

 **"Well, as Colonel Casey's chopper approached Tracy Island – I was watching from Thunderbird 5 – I suddenly lost the feed and something was blocking my signal when I went to call Brains to see what the problem was. I kept getting blocked and only once the chopper left was I able to get through, which was just now," John announced.**

 **"Was...the chopper blocking the signal?" Scott asked.**

 **"No! Don't you see? Something _on_ the chopper was blocking any signals from getting to Tracy Island," Kerry piped up.**

 **Everyone looked at the girl who still had tear stains on her face. "What did you just say?" Grandma Tracy asked. Kerry repeated what she thought and everyone looked at each other.**

 **"You're a very bright girl, Kerry," Jeff smiled. "Do you think it was deliberate?" he wondered out loud.**

 **They all paused to think carefully. This was Colonel Casey of the GDF they were talking about and they did not want to accuse her of anything out of hand.**

 **"She _was_ rather nasty this time and abrupt," Rae noted. **

**"Maybe it was not her," Grandma Tracy said. She liked to explore all possible options and argue all sides of logic as she used to be a lawyer and a diplomate. "Maybe someone else did. And anyway, why did that happen?"**

 **"W-we d-don't know, M-Mrs T-Tracy," Brains replied. "B-but I'll look i-into i-it," he promised.**

 **Jeff nodded his agreement and turned to Rae Levy. "You said you could read dead languages?" She nodded. "Right. Well, I want you to read that message in Akkadian and see what it says." Rae nodded, took the USB from Jeff's deck, plugged into into her iPad and downloaded the message from the USB onto her iPad to read later.**

 **"What about all those people, Dad?" John asked, referring to the photographs.**

 **"I want you to put the photos of the unknown people through the facial recognition software you have on TB5 and see if anything comes up," Jeff ordered. His second son nodded and ended his call. Jeff paused as he thought about what to do next. There was the Hood in there, so was it all saying those people were part of some criminal gang? That could not be right as it showed Queen Bridgette IV of England and Gregory Lucas, the Australian Prime Minister. As well as the North Korean dictator. But, he reflected, Bridgette's family had been involved in alot of public scandals over the years, so the people of England were rather wary of this new monarch and it could be entirely possible that this one was as well. There was only one person who could tell them what was going on.**

 **He looked at the photo of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, which also doubled as a communication device. "I think it's time to involve your girlfriend, Gordon," he decided, managing to keep his face straight.**

 **Gordon started at the statement. "She's not my girlfriend!" he snapped in embarrassment.**

 **Jeff smiled. "Of course," he said sarcastically as he reached over and activated the calling mechanism.**

ENGLAND

 **Fab 1 was cruising along a country road on the way home to the Creighton-Ward Estate. Inside was Lady Penelope, her pet dog Sherbet and her chauffeur Parker. They were coming home after an opening play for the new theatre in Belgium. "Well, that was certainly disappointing," Penelope commented driely.**

 **Parker chuckled. "What are you h'alking about m'lady? I found it most h'interesting," Parker commented.**

 **"That poor dog left out in the cold," Penelope continued, seeming not to hear him.**

 **"That's what was so h'interesting," Parker confessed.**

 **"Parker!" Penelope scolded, covering Sherbert's ears. "You'll scare Sherbert!"**

 **The chauffeur sighed. "Yes, m'lady," he submitted. Then, Penelope's portable hand mirror beeped. Penelope picked it up and opened it, which automatically accepted the call. A holo-image of Jeff Tracy appeared.**

 **"Hello, Lady P," Jeff greeted with a warm smile.**

 **"Hello, Jeff. How are you?" Lady Penelope greeted.**

 **"I'm good. I trust everything's okay in the aristocracy?"**

 **"Oh, remarkably good. So quiet it's almost suspicious," Penelope joked around. Jeff laughed. _You might be more right than you know_ , Jeff thought to himself. But before he revealed anything, he still had a joke up his sleeve. He knew that if it was left up to Gordon to ask anyone out, he would be too nervous and still be a bachelor when he was ninety. So, he decided to help things along.**

 **He cleared his throat. "Say, Penny, Gordon wants to ask you something." Here Gordon looked mad and began to stand up. Jeff hid a grin. "But he's too shy and asked me to do it," he continued.**

 **"Wha-!?" Gordon gaped.**

 **"He wants to ask you to the Mid-Summer Ball in America next month," Jeff asked, which was true.**

 **Penelope looked pleased. "Why, Gordo! That's marvelous! I'll purchase the tickets!" she accepted Gordon sat back down without a word. "Now, back to business. Jeff, what is the problem?" Jeff told her everything that had happened and how they wanted her to check up on Britain's current monarch. "Bridgette? Why, she's one of my best friends! It won't look good if she turns out to be involved with criminals. After the last few monarchs, people may push for the end of Britain's monarchy. And she was the only one that was showing any potential," Lady Penelope said after hearing it all. "Don't worry, Jeff. Consider it done," and she hung up after smiling at Gordon. She pocketed the hand mirror. "Buckingham Palace, if you would, please Parker."**

 **"Right h'away m'lady," and Parker flipped a switch and wings popped out of the sides of Fab 1 and the car flew off into the air.**


	7. Chapter 7

**To the Guest Reviewer: No, the whole point of the story was NOT to do with any argument between Jeff and Scott as I am not having any arguments. There was none mentioned in the challenge offer, and even if there was, I would not do it. The girl would have found out sooner or later about the Tracys being IR, so it doesn't make a difference if she knows in Chapter 6. This IS THE CHALLENGE as I did what AryaUchiha1999 suggested and took the basic gist and did what I liked with it ( like she suggested). I do not have to include all the ideas AryaUchiha1999 suggested. Reread the challenge offer.**

Alan and Gordon were lounging in the pool, having nothing else to do. Kerry was sitting in a deck chair nearby as she was scared about entering the water as she had always had a fear of water. Kerry was rereading a novel by an Australian author about two teenagers who assist a detective and end up saving the world in each adventure. She was trying to reread the third novel, but her mind kept straying to a conversation she had had with her mother a few days before the plane accident.

 _"Kerry," her mother, Diana, had said while they were having dinner that night. "If there ever came a time in the near future where you were...I was no longer around..."_

 _"Mom, I am fifteen. Just spell it out," Kerry had smiled._

 _Diana had smiled ruefully. "Sorry, dear. If I suddenly died, I don't want you to go to the Global Orphanage in London," Diana had stated. Kerry was not entirely surprised. Her mother had been rather anti-GDF and anti-one world lately, which Kerry fully agreed with.  
"But, Mum. It's the law. I can't break the law," Kerry argued._

 _Diana nodded. "But, I want you to contact Scott Tracy, your father's friend. See if he'll take you in. If he won't, then you must go to the Orphanage. But, try to find Scott," she had ordered._

 _"Why? The reports we've read about the Orp-"_

 _"Promise me," Diana had interrupted. She leaned over the table and took Kerry's hand. "Promise that you'll do that?"_

 _Kerry shrugged. "Sure, Mom. I promise."_

Kerry wondered about what her mother had been talking about. What really disturbed Kerry was that her mother had died just a few days later, like she was worried about. _Had she known she was going to die?_ Kerry wondered. _Was Mom up to something?_

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward of the Creighton-Ward Estate is here to see you, Your Majesty," the butler said, bowing in obeisance. Queen Bridgette IV was in the garden, seated around one of the tables, going through a stack of paper. She was in need of a quick break and her ears perked up at the mention of her old BFF coming. _Perfect!_ She inwardly whooped. But, she managed to contain her excitement.

"Bring her out here, Jasper. Oh, and have the cook bring out tea, cake and scones," Bridgette ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty." And Jasper turned and went to carry out her orders. While waiting, Bridgette leaned back in her chair and for a moment forgot royal protocal and put her feet up on another nearby chair for a brief, but much needed, rest. She almost regretted being the heir to the throne as it was such hard work. But, she intended to do a good job at ruling England and mend the damage to her name that her ancestors had wrecked.

Soon, she saw Jasper and Lady Penelope coming up the garden path and quickly regained her composure. Thankfully, none of them had noticed. Bridgette smiled at Penelope as Penny sat down after bowing slightly. Jasper left and the two females grinned at each other. "How have you been now that you're Queen of England?" Lady Penelope enquired.

Bridgette sighed. "It's a tedious job. I envy, Penny, I'll be honest with you. I'm also having a stressful time with the World Parliament at the moment," she confided. Penelope was rather interested, so asked Bridgette to continue. She did. "William of Orange and his wife, Mary, decided to let Parliament rule, they just did what Parliament said. Everyone else after them have done the same. And now that all the Parliaments in the world have merged into one, it's become worse and I wonder why the World Parliament keeps all the monarchy in as the Parliament is basically ruling. But, I want the UK to be free and independant. I want to make my own decisions and I am having a terrible time with the World Parliament and World Council. Kim Un, North Korea's leader, has been giving me an especially hard time."

Penelope remembered that Kim Un had been shown in the USB as well as Queen Bridgette. _Interesting_. "Oh, really?" she asked.

 **THUNDERBIRD 5**

Up in space, John was going over the photos. Jeff had called in after all the others had left the lounge and told him the Japanese woman in the photograph was Colonel Akane. John had put Scar Face and Tattoo Face, as he dubbed them, in the facial recognition software. Nothing came up whatsoever. _Weird_ , he had thought. He had tried all the tricks in the book to find out something, but nothing came up. Right now, he was reading about Colonel Akane. It was a perfect, flawless report. She was the fourth child of a member of the World Council and had decided at twelve it was her job to defend the world by becoming a member of the Global Defence Force. Akane achieved that dream at the age of nineteen and was a highly-esteemed member, quickly rising to second-in-command at the age of twenty-four.

 _That can't be right_ , John realized. _A person can't become second-in-command unless he or she is thirty-five or over. Something's not right there_. He read further and noted that her father was the famous Martin Bond, an American, who was in the World Council. Bond had married a Japanese lady and ended up moving to Japan, where Akane was born and raised. John noticed that Martin Bond bore an uncanny resemblance to Colonel Martin Janus, who was arrested by Colonel Casey last year for flaws in his credentials, being charged with treason. Janus, though, had escaped and John wondered if he was this Bond. He decided he should call his father.


	8. Chapter 8

**TRACY ISLAND**

 _ **That evening...**_

John's picture beeped and then a holographic image of the ginger haired, green eyed twenty-three year old shone out of his eyes in the photograph. Kayo looked up at him and thought how beautiful his eyes looked. Pulling herself back down to earth, she raised an eyebrow in greeting. "What's up, John?" she asked. Jeff and the others had left, except Grandma Tracy, who was asleep on one of the couches, snoring.

"It's to do with those photographs," John said. He hesitated to tell her as he thought it best that Jeff hear first. But then he remembered that his father had never heard of Martin Janus, so decided it was okay to tell her first. Plus, he liked talking to her. First, though, he had to stop thinking about how blooming gorgeous she looked. "You know the Japanese woman in that photo on the USB?" he asked. Kayo nodded, leaning forward in anticaption. "Well, she is Colonel Akane, that second-in-command who visited with Colonel Casey and conducted the autopsy on Ms. Winters."

Kayo gaped. "WHAT!?"

He nodded. "I know. Jeff told me earlier, but wanted it kept quiet until I had read up about her to see if she was involved in anything suspicious. She is the daughter of Martin Bond."

"Oh. That American who thinks that world peace and harmony will only be achieved through strict domination and control and not through the negotiations and deals that are being used to try and rally Britain into the mix and that worked on other countries," Kayo said, her tone showing her dislike for Bond.

"And another thing," John continued. "You'll never believe who it appears Martin Bond really is."

"Dazzle me," Kayo half-smiled.

"Martin Janus."

Kayo frowned in confusion as she thought about it. John, knowing she would require proof, brought up a holo-photo of Martin Bond and a holo-photo of Martin Janus, the pain in the neck who had tried to destroy International Rescue before. Kayo studied the photos and looked rather surprised. "They look exactly alike. Bond just looks like a slightly older version of Janus," she noted. "But, I thought he was arrested by the GDF because of some treason to the World Parliament and the GDF to boot that was declared as classified information," she pointed out.

"Remember that he escaped?" John reminded her. "The GDF tried to track him down, but the trail went cold. So, how does someone who has incriminating evidence that he somehow or another commited a major crime against the World Parliament and the GDF end up as one of the higher-ranking members of the World Parliament AND becomes the advisor to the head of the World Parliament – Russia?" Kayo agreed it was very strange.

"What's very strange?" Jeff asked as he walked into the room with Brains and MAX. John told him about Colonel Akane being the daughter of Martin Bond a.k.a. Martin Janus. Jeff did not know who Janus was, so Kayo, Brains and John explained everything that they knew about him and their encounter with him. "That _is_ very strange," he agreed. Before he could say anything more, Lady Penelope's holographic image projected out of her photo. John noticed that she looked rather tired, but pleased with herself.

"Jeff, I had a visit with Queen Bridgette. She appears to be innocent of any wrongdoings. I even contacted my secret, how shall I put it? _friend_ in Buckingham Palace afterwards and my _friend_ has assured me that Bridgette hasn't done anything wrong so far, and he knows as he is the Queen's closest friend in the palace," Penelope reported. "Before calling you, I called some more of my _friends_ in the Australian government and North Korean government and asked them to discreetly see if there was any connection between the Hood, themselves and Bridgette. Even the Mechanic."

"The M-Mechanic?" Brains asked. "W-why h-him?"

"Well, I think that photo of the man with the tattoos on his face is the Mechanic. Looks like him to me," Penny explained. The others considered that as they had not thought of it before, and they all agreed. "Anyway, just before I called you, my friends had sent me a coded e-mail reporting their findings. It turns out that Kim Un and the Hood had secretly been working together a few years ago to try and destroy International Rescue. The friends have stated that they discovered there was a third person involved, but they were not able to find out who was the third person. Also, Gregory Lucas, Kim Un and the Mechanic had recently been involved in illegally smuggling in robot parts and had also secretly created an army of cyborgs, but it appears that the cyborg army was a scrapped project. The Hood was briefly involved, but bailed out for unknown reasons."

The others were rather amazed. "Okay. And how is Bridgette involved?" Grandma Tracy enquired. She had awakened, but the others had not noticed.

"They had tried to get her involved in the smuggling and such – this was shortly before she became Queen of England, you see," Lady Penelope explained, "but she refused, stating that she was not going to become a scandalous monarch like the rest of her family. And Bridgette told me earlier today that Kim Un has been pressuring her to make Britain part of the World Parliament, but she wants England to be free. Un has even threatened her, and she is not sure what to do now. My connections in the Australian government has said that there has been some private e-mails and phone conversations between Lucas and Queen Bridgette, but they are not able to find out what they are without blowing their cover."

Kayo, John, Jeff, Brains and Grandma Tracy all looked at each other in silence as they absorbed this information. "Do you know any connection to do with them and JFK's assassination? Or even 9/11?" John asked.

"No," Lady Penelope answered. "Jeff, may you please send me those photos of those ruins? I am well-travelled and might be able to identify them for you?" she offered.

Jeff agreed and promised he would send them in an e-mail soon. "I'll send you that photo of those people who appeared to be an army doing arms drills. Maybe your _friends_ will know what that's about." Penny nodded. "And, I will tell you what I think of all this: I think that Colonel Akane was after that USB Diana Winters had. She was on the USB and then she came here to do the autopsy. The information on the USB sounds like it's becoming extremely interesting; so I believe that Akane was doing the autopsy in the hope of retrieving the USB," Jeff announced.

"W-why w-would she w-want the USB?" Brains enquired.

"To destroy it so no-one would find out what was on it," Jeff pointed out. "I dunno'. Maybe I'm wrong, but that seems likely."

 **LAURA CASEY'S HOME**

Colonel Casey and the Hood were seated on two comfy armchairs before the fire. Bosworth had bugged Tracy Island for them, as well as Akane when she was inside the house, and they had Bosworth and Akane listening in on Tracy Island. Casey had suspected that the Tracy's had discovered the USB, so decided that the safest thing to do was bug the whole island (including the house) to find out if they really had it or not. To stop John Tracy noticing from Thunderbird 5, they had planted a device on the chopper that would block John from watching and from contacting anyone on the island while the chopper was there.

"It's so nice to have the GDF's services for once," the Hood commented.

"Yes, well. Just know that I am only doing this with you is because if they decoded that message, it will bring about my downfall. As well as the World Parliament's. And I want to prevent that, so that is the only reason I acquired your services," Casey remarked.

"Oh." The Hood pretended to be disappointed. "What happens after all this is over? Do you go back to trying to lock me up? I believe that failed before."

Before Laura Casey could retort, her iPhone rang. She checked the caller ID – it was Bosworth. "This better be important," Casey answered the call, putting it on speaker.

"They do have the USB and have discovered connections between Australia, North Korea, the Hood and the Mechanic and stuff that Kim Un is trying to do to force Bridgette to join the World Parliament," Bosworth reported. Casey and the Hood looked at each other, alarmed.

"I have an idea that will stop them," the Hood spoke. "Get the girl."

 **TRACY ISLAND**

It was close to midnight and Jeff was having trouble sleeping. He had just gone around the house, checking on everyone, making sure they were sleeping soundly. He noticed that Scott was not in bed and was trying to find him to order him to bed – in good humour of course. He saw Scott sitting next to the pool, dangling his legs in the water. Jeff walked out and sat down next to him. "Do you realise what time it is?" he scolded.

Scott looked up at the moon and nodded. "I have been thinking over this idea of mine, trying to decide whether it is a good idea or not." He paused and took a deep breath to spit it out. "I loved Kerry's dad like he was my younger brother. Now that he and Diana are dead, I want to adopt Kerry. She remembers me and I think it is best that she goes with someone who knows her and she knows that person. I don't want to see her go to that orphanage or be adopted by someone she doesn't know. I remember Brenton telling me that he was an orphan and had never known his family – just raised in an orphanage and Diana's family doesn't want anything to do with her, so...I want to...adopt Kerry," Scott informed his father.

He risked a glance at his father, and to his relief and joy, Jeff was grinning. "Excellent idea! Ask her and see what she says, but wait until the _morning!_ " and they laughed. They both stood up and hugged each other good night. Scott had missed his father, so enjoyed every moment he could hug him. "Good night, Scott," Jeff said.

Before Scott could say good night, an alarm on Tracy Island began to blare and a computerised voice was repeating over and over: _"Intruder! Intruder!"_


	9. Chapter 9

Jeff and Scott ran inside the house. Jeff went to his desk and called John. "What is it, Dad?" John asked, his holo-image projecting from his photo. He looked concerned as he had seen the alarm.

"We have an intruder on the premises. I need you to locate where the alarm sensors on the island went on and you also need to pinpoint the exact location of the person," Jeff ordered, switching into commander mode.

"F-A-B," John said.

 **THUNDERBIRD 5**

"EOS," John called to the helpful AI. It turned towards him and it's lights glowed white, meaning a question.

"Yes, Johnny?" EOS asked, it's lights turning a light pink, meaning a half-smile.

John scowled. "You shouldn't spend so much time around Gordon. It's not healthy," he said. "Anyway, I want you to hack into Tracy Island's security cameras for me. There's an intruder on the premises."

"Of course...star dust," EOS agreed and swiftly began hacking into the cameras.

John stared at her. _How the blinkin' heck did EOS know about that?_ He silently wondered, blushing. 'Star dust' was a nickname his brothers had given him when he was ten after he was convinced he had found some star dust while on a hike up a mountain on a school expedition. He had theorised that a star had entered earth's atmosphere, but had somehow been turned into dust and scattered over the mountain. His teacher had, to his embarrassment, proven it was nothing of the sort and since then Scott and Virgil called him 'star dust' as a form of their teasing. They rarely called him that now, but still sometimes did.

"Who told you about _that_?" he demanded.

It's lights turned a bright concotion of pink and yellow, meaning EOS knew everything and found it very amusing. "Oh, I'm afraid I have taken an oath of confidentiality on the subject," it replied with a chuckle in it's voice. "I have accessed the security cameras, John," EOS informed him.

 **TRACY ISLAND**

"They are all on the way, Dad," Scott reported. He and Kayo had organised everybody else, apart from Jeff and themselves, and had just finished teleporting everyone else to Mateo Island's emergency bunker.

"Excellent," Jeff said. They all heard a _beeping!_ noise and John's holographic image appeared.

"Dad," John said urgently, "I have detected a life sign on the eastern perimeter of the island. And, I have also detected that the person is heavily-armed. Heading for the house as we speak."

"F-A-B," Kayo acknowledged and, grabbing her helmet, ran down the stairs and outside. "Location, please, John," she whispered, so as not to alert the intruder.

"Still on the east side, heading your way," John informed her over the radio built into the helmet that she had put on.

"Perfect," she murmured and silently crept along the house, keeping to the shadows, stopping to listen for any sound from her target.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Scott surpressed a smile at Kayo's sudden actions as he turned to a surprised John. "You're a lucky man," he commented straight faced.

John simply looked at him. "Yes. Lucky that I'm up here and not down there on the receiving end of her interrogation techniques," he said tersely and hung up. Jeff looked momentarily confused before realizing what it all meant and grinned.

"You mean he's in love with..." and he trailed off, Scott knowning what he meant. Scott nodded and grinned back.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T**

Kayo knelt down behind a bush and peeked around it. Being just after midnight, it was pitch black, so she turned on NightVision, a new 'fangled contraption' that Brains had recently designed. _Brains, you've outdone yourself this time_ , she thought as she instantly could see everything. She looked up to check exactly where she was and saw that she was at the bottom of the rocky climb up to the window of the spare room where Kerry was using.

Kayo's sharp eyes caught movement to her left and looked. An armed person was starting to climb up the rocks. Kayo noticed he seemed intent on getting to the window of Kerry's room. She considered just launching a surprise attack, but with all the weapons on him, she realised that a different approach was needed. So, she turned on the megaphone device in her helmet. It amplified her voice.

"Unknown Intruder," Kayo said. The man halted in his tracks, but did not turn around. "Put down your weapons. You are trespassing on private property and step down. Repeat: put down your weapons and step down with your hands in the air and your back to me."

"Okay," the man agreed. He took a step down with his hands raised. He began to turn his back on Kayo, then grabbed one of his guns, whipped around and fired rapidly with silenced bullets in the general direction of Kayo's voice. He stopped after five seconds and then listened to catch any sounds of the unwanted interruption. He heard the female groaning and screaming in pain. _Hell, I can't have that. Others will be onto me soon_ , he thought.

The man ran over to where the racket was coming from, but she was not there. There was bullet holes everywhere, some blood, but no woman.

Something slammed into him, knocking him down to the ground and everything went black.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

Bosworth came to with a great big blimin'! headache. He let out a groan and opened his eyes. He found himself in a dark room, except for a single light bulb, which was on and directly over him. He could not see much else, apart from that there did not appear to be anything else in the room. The room stunk of rat waste. Suddenly remembering his fight with some female he realised it might have been Tanusha Kyrano, judging from what Casey and the Hood had said about her. _IR should have better prisons_ , he thought grudginly to himself.

He tried to move his arms, but discovered that he was handcuffed and his hands were behind the back of the chair. He attempted to his feet. Pain ripped through him. _Drat! They are chained to the blasted chair!_ He sighed in frustration. He heard a door behind him open and footsteps heading towards him. Well, more like, coming up _behind_ him. Bosworth tried to turn his head, but his hair was grabbed and yanked back. Screaming in pain, he looked up and saw Azizullah, his Arabian boss, frowing down at him. _I'm not on Tracy Island?_ But what really set his heart racing was the chainsaw Azizullah had close to his neck. "Boss," he croaked out. His headache was increasing in intensity.

"Agent 15. I'll get straight to the point and warn you that if you do not tell me the truth, I'll turn on the chainsaw and slowly cut your throat," Azizullah warned him. Bosworth gulped and began to tremble. Azizullah smiled at that sign of terror and submission. "What the flippin' heck were you doing on Tracy Island?" the Arabian questioned, bringing the chainsaw dangerously close to Bosworth's neck.

"I'll explain!" Bosworth shrieked. "After you hired Akane and I to dispose of Diana Winters because of that USB, we were searching for the USB, when the Hood called me and forced me at gun point to tell him who you were." Azizullah's face concorted with rage. "BUT, I DIDN'T TELL HIM YOU WERE THE MECHANIC!" he unintentionally shouted. "All I told him was that you were some Arabian guy named Azizullah and that we had no other information on you and I had no choice but to tell him that you hired us to get rid of Winters and find the USB to destroy it as it would destroy you and I consoled him by saying it would destroy him as well, so I claimed I was trying to protect him. But I don't really give two... _coins_ about the Hood anymore."

"Anyway," he continued, "Colonel Casey and the Hood forced me to bug Tracy Island – Akane did as well – and we learnt from that that IR definitely has the USB and Winters' daughter, Kerry. And they know several other things," and Bosworth proceeded to tell the Mechanic everything that they had overheard the Tracys discover. "So, the Hood came up with the plan to kidnap Kerry and use her as an incentive to stop them finding out everything that Diana was looking into."

The Mechanic stared at him for a while, and then let him go, withdrawing the chainsaw, much to Bosworth's relief. "How-how did I get here? What happened at Tracy Island?" Bosworth enquired.

"After several attempts to contact you, I contacted Akane and she told me where you were going and why – I simply wanted to see if she was telling the truth – so I followed you. When I saw that you had shot Ms Kyrano and that she had skulked off, I knocked you out and teleported us to here. Though, I was tempted to let you get caught. You're such a bumbling fool sometimes," the Mechanic explained. He turned around and looked at Bosworth. "I'll let you live. I have a job for you and Akane. AND DON'T BLOOMIN' SCREW UP!"


	10. Chapter 10

Kayo was in Tracy Island's infirmary after Virgil and Rae had taken out the bullets in her, and cleaned the wounds and then bandaged them after rubbing a special cream on the wounds which would create new skin cells, healing wounds and cuts in 5-10 hours. Kayo was unconscious and the rest of the family – except for Rae (as she was still trying to read the message written in Akkadian) and, of course, John – were gathered in the lounge, discussing what Kayo had told them before she had passed out. Kerry was there as well.

"You mean, that man was after me?" Kerry asked.

Scott put his hand on her shoulder and Virgil wrapped an arm around Kerry. " 'Fraid so, Kerry," Scott said. The teenager looked at him with a look of fear.

"But, why?" Kerry questioned.

"We're not sure, but we think it's too do with that USB your mother had," Virgil answered gently. Kerry leaned back on the couch.

"Mom was looking into that, not me," Kerry said. "I didn't even know it existed, until recently. What use would I be?"

"And, the only people who know about Kerry being here is Colonel Casey and Colonel Akane," Grandma Tracy said. "You don't think-"

A _beep! beep! beep!_ interrupted Grandma Tracy. "It's Lady Penelope," Gordon announced and he began smoothing his hair and discreetly (not really) straightening his big tropical shirt. Kerry, Virgil and Scott all looked at each other and smirked.

Jeff pressed a button on his desk, where he was seated, and a holo-image of Penelope shone from her picture. "What is it, Lady P? Did you receive my e-mail?" Jeff greeted.

"I most certainly did, Jeff," Lady Penelope said. "I took a look at the photo of the arms drill. I got Parker to take a look."

"Parker?" Alan asked.

"Well...Ahem. He did several jobs in his youth, so I thought he might have an idea about this particular photo. He was very helpful. He pointed out a little detail – none of the men, even though they are dressed as soldiers, have any emblems on their uniforms. Also, Parker has said he recognizes some of the people in the photo," Penny said. They all leaned forward.

"You know that old cove in the background, sort of standing apart from the young folk?" Parker said, stepping to Penelope's side. They nodded. "Well, h'it's me old partner in crime, Flippin' Fear."

"Language!" Penelope shided, tight mouthed.

"Yes, m'lady," Parker sighed. "But that's what we called Dick back then as he was cruel and ruthless and we all feared him. I find h'it strange that he h'is h'in charge of this h'arms drill."

"What about the others? Lady Penelope said you recognized some people," Scott asked.

"Ah, yes. There is a dark-skinned man who is called Warren Orbit, grandson of another partner of mine in my youth," Parker continued. "Orbit's grandfather already had a teenage son when we became work partners. And the teenager was an apprentice of ours, who, last I heard, ended up being Warren's father and Warren was also becoming a crook. So, I wonder why he is doing an arms drill in what appears to be an odd h'army? There h'is some children of other crooks I've known. Very strange."

"That _is_ odd," Gordon said.

Penelope cleared her throat. "I looked at the photos of the derelict buildings in the countryside. They are castles in Spain, France, England and Ireland. I do remember visiting them with my parents as a child, but I don't remember where they were exactly and what they were called," she reported.

They heard feet running towards the lounge and all turned to see Rae run into the lounge with a triumphant look on her face. "I've cracked the message!" she beamed.

John then called in. "We have a situation," John said.

"What's the situation?" Jeff asked.

"A rock climber was exploring a cave in Mt. Hyuargr in Alaska when there was a cave-in, trapping him in the cave. He says a rock pinned his legs. Local rescue teams and the GDF won't go there as that area where the mountain is in is off-limits because of earthquakes and landslides that frequent the area," John reported.

"The rock climber sounds like a dare-devil," Virgil commented, then glared at Gordon and Alan, who were whispering about how exciting it would be to do just what the rock climber had done. They shut up.

"Yep. But, local authorities have given us permission to go in and save the idiot," John said.

"Scott, take Thunderbird 1 and fly there as quickly as possible. Virgil, take the exo-suit and join Scott in Thunderbird 1 to clear away the rubble," Jeff ordered.

"F-A-B," Scott and Virgil said and stood up. Virgil and Rae kissed each other and then Scott and Virgil went down their respective chutes where they geared up and entered Thunderbird 1.

After Thunderbird 1 launched from underneath the outside the pool, Jeff turned to Rae. "Alright, what does it say, my dear?" he asked.

Rae sat down and put her laptop on her lap, opening it. "This is what it says:

 _My dear Ms. Winters,_

 _Do not think that we are not aware of your_

 _investigations and the extent of your research._

 _The GDF and World Parliament know_

 _everything – to the last detail._

 _Since you will not stop at threats to your life,_

 _we now threaten Adam's life._

 _We have him. If you want to have him,_

 _there is one clue in each of the castles to_

 _what we are going to do. To have Adam, you must_

 _solve this game and stop it. Fail in any way, Adam dies._

 _Colonel Casey_

 **MT. HYUARGR, ALASKA**

Virgil lifted the last of the big, heavy rocks away with his 'Jaws of Life'. He looked around for any signs of the rock climber, but did not see anything. But he did see several tunnels branching out from the cave into Mt. Hyuargr. _Strange. John only said there was a cave_ , Virgil thought. Scott then arrived at his side.

"Hang on. John only said there was a cave," Scott also noticed. "And where's the rock climber?" He turned on his comms and pressed the Thunderbird 5 icon. "John? May you please run a scan and tell us where the rock climber is?" Scott requested.

John's hologram appeared, but kept breaking up. "Scott (static) I'm pick... (static) life signs in the-" The connection then broke and John's hologram disappeared.

"John? John, are you there?" Scott repeated, trying to regain the connection. But he could not get through. "Virgil, how 'bout you?" he asked, turning to his brother.

"Same problem," Virgil replied. He began walking cautiously inside. "Well, we won't find our man standing around," he commented. Scott followed him inside.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

"Virg! In here!" Scott called out to his brother, shining his torch down one of the tunnels. He could just make out a figure huddled on the floor. _But, there's no rock pinning down his leg_ , Scott noticed. The person appeared to be asleep. Not a good idea in this cold place. Virgil came over and they both went down the tunnel towards the person. After getting close, Scott shone his torch on the man, getting a better look. He was definitely asleep.

Virgil knelt down beside the man, and Scott watched as Virgil scanned the man. "He's breathing. And his heartbeat is strong. He must have just recently falling asleep. But, his legs are fine," Virgil noted.

"Something's not right," Scott mused.

WHACK! Something hit Scott on the back of the head and everything went dark.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, I'm back! Thank you people for your reviews which encouraged me to continue writing this. By the way, on chapter 2 I believe, I had a guest reviewer asking me a question about an aspect in my story. My apologies to that reviewer for the belated reply as I simply forgot about it. The question: Isn't it inappropriate to have Virgil dating a blood relative? i.e. his cousin. Answer: No. Because most countries in the world have legalised cousin marriages and it is only a very few that have banned cousin marriages. Australia and New Zealand have totally legalised cousin marriages and since Tracy Island is close to both of those, it is quite okay for Virgil and Rae. There is a Wikipedia article about it if you want to read it.**

 **NORTH KOREA**

It was late. Kim Un knew he should be in bed, but he could not go to sleep even if he wanted to. He was scheduled for a meeting at midnight and he knew that it was imperative to stay awake until then. He checked his watch. **11:57 p.m.** Three minutes. He reached over to his desk next to his bed and took his laptop. He turned it on and waited for the call.

Right on the dot he was notified about an incoming Skype call. He accepted it. It was a video conference with all the World Parliament (minus Queen Bridgette), the World Council and Colonel Casey at once on Skype. Gregory Lucas, the Australian Prime Minister, was rubbing his eyes and looked like he was not enjoying this. _No matter_ , Kim thought. _I have news that will wake him up_. "Bl**dy h*ll, mate. This had better be bloomin' important. I really want to go to bed," Lucas complained.

"What is so important, Un?" Albert Thompson, the American President, enquired. "And why Skype? It is outdated," he added.

"Mate, that way, no flippin' hackers can listen in," Lucas responded.

Kim cleared his throat. "Ahem. I have Queen Bridgette's final answer," he said. Everyone fell silent. "She is now officially a hostile."

Martin Bond sighed and leaned back. "I would advise changing our launch date," he said.

"You mean sooner?" Colonel Casey enquired.

"Much, much sooner. In 36 hours, to be precise," Martin elaborated. Everybody else was silent as they thought about it. Martin just sat there, as if in his mind that advice was the final answer. "I mean, the actual Project ZULA2435 in 36 hours. Project KJUY980 in 12 hours," he further elaborated.

"And why is that?" Kim asked.

"Casey, tell them what you have told me," Martin said.

"According to my intelligence," Casey said, "That cousin of the Tracys' as decoded the message to Ms. Winters about Adam." Several groans erupted from that. "It is not certain yet, but I believe they will take up the challenge. Don't worry, the clues are extremely subtle. They probably won't even find them in time. Isn't that why we taunted Diana with it? And, Diana was not supposed to have been killed just yet."

"So, you are advising launching sooner so that they won't have time to find out and stop us?" Thompson asked for clarification, ignoring Casey's remark. Martin nodded.

"We'll go with Martin's advice," William Pullman, the head of the World Parliament announced. "Conference is adjourned."

 **TRACY ISLAND**

Kerry's stomach twisted in knots. _Oh no, oh no, oh no_ , she mentally screamed. "Kerry, who's Adam?" Grandma Tracy asked. She suddenly realised that everyone was looking at her. "Are you alright, dear?" Grandma Tracy queried. "You look rather pale."

"Adam Hanson is a boy that Mom had adopted two years ago," Kerry explained. "About six months ago, Adam had went missing and we haven't been able to find him. We had thought he was dead. But Casey had him kidnapped..." she trailed off as she thought about her adopted brother. _Poor Adam_ , she thought. "All over that USB," she muttered. Alan came over and wrapped an arm around her to comfort her. Kerry reciprocated.

"Kerry, if you have any idea or suspicion about what your mother has been up to, you need to tell us," Jeff said gently. Kerry nodded. He was right.

"Mom loved conspiracies. Was totally into them. A few days before the plane crash, Mom made me promise that if she died at some point soon in the future that I would find Scott and ask him to adopt me as she did not want me to go the that global orphanage in London, or wherever it was. It's like she knew that she was going to die, most probably to do with that USB," Kerry confessed. "When we were on the plane, shortly before the engines failed, Mom was talking about going on a holiday to Ireland soon to visit some ruined castle. I think she said it had belonged to Errol Mormon, some Duke."

"Oh! Errol!" Penelope exclaimed. "He was a British duke that loved Ireland so much, he resided there all his adult life. Built a castle there. Why didn't I remember that castle?"

"She was talking about visiting Spain, France and England afterwards to visit other castle ruins," Kerry continued. "That's about it. May I please search for those clues? The message makes it clear that we have to otherwise Adam dies," she said.

"I can take her," Penelope offered. "I have nothing else to do and could use an excuse to travel."

Kerry looked at Jeff as he carefully considered it. "I suppose. Yep," he consented. He looked at Kerry and smiled. Lady Penelope promised she would set off in FAB 1 immediately for Tracy Island to pick Kerry up and then hung up.

 _ **Somewhere around the world...**_

Virgil came to. He felt dizzy and thought he would throw up. He opened his eyes and found himself sitting in a chair, his hands and feet chained tightly to the chair. The room was dark. He tried to move his head, but that aggravated his dizziness. "Ohhhhh," he moaned, closing his eyes. _Where am I? How did I get here?_ He wondered. Then everything came back. _The rescue was a trap. Scott!_ "Scott? Scott are you alright?" he called out as loud as he dared.

"Ohhhh," was the answer. "Where's a bucket?" he heard Scott mutter, which was followed by a renching noise. Virgil was suddenly glad the room was dark. "Virgil?" Scott called out.

"I'm here, bro," Virgil answered, trying to hold in his breakfast. "Wherever _here_ is," he added. Suddenly a door opened and a rectangle of light shone in. Three dark silhouettes stood in the doorway before stepping in. There was the sound of some machine being turned on and then the lights turned on. Virgil squinted and so did Scott.

"Ah, my insurance policies are awake," said a deep voice. Virgil's blood ran cold. The Mechanic. His eyes adjusted to the light and he now could see who the other two was. Dressed in their typical purple armour. The Chaos Crew – Fuse and Havok.

"Akane?" was all Scott said. _Colonel Akane?_ Virgil thought.

"Well done. You figured it out," Havok, or Akane, mocked.

"Why do you want us?" Virgil asked the Mechanic, sounding braver than he actually felt.

"I said you two were my insurance," the Mechanic said impatiently. "Bosworth and Akane, you two are finished," he said.

"What about our reward?" Fuse asked.

"Right here," and the Mechanic's Scorpian Mechas zapped them. "Take them outside and deal with them," he ordered the Mechas. "The price of a doublecross," he said as way of an explanation after the Mechas had left with Fuse and Havok. He walked over and put blindfolds on both Scott and Virgil. "Let's call your family now, shall we?"

Not being able to see anything was rather uncomfortable for Virgil. He listened to the _brring! Brring!_ Before someone answered. "The Mechanic," Jeff answered. "What do you want?"

The Mechanic laughed. "Jeff, you were always the one to get straight to the point. Which is good, as your sons lives depend on it," he said. Fear gripped Virgil. "Now, what do I want? Brains has invented technology far advanced beyond its time. I have sent him an e-mail with the blue prints for the technology I need. I want Brains to design it for me. Send an e-mail to the address given in the e-mail once Brains has finished designing them. You have two weeks to build them," the Mechanic explained.

"And if I d-don't?" said Brains.

Virgil suddenly felt something cold being pressed against his cheek. "This container has small repair bots inside," the Mechanic announced. "I have reversed their orders. Refuse, and I will unleash them on Scott and Virgil, whom will die slowly and painfully."

"We'll do it," Jeff agreed. The cold container was taken off.

"You have two weeks, Brains," and the Mechanic hung up.


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks Math Girl, Bow Echo, High King Peter the Magnificen and Minimam! Reasons for updating this chapter: Made a mistake. So I hope there is no confusion with any rereaders!

 **Brains sat down at his desk with a sigh. He did not work well under pressure, and now with the pressure of building some technology in two weeks or Scott and Virgil would die was really pressuring him. _Now where's my iPad?_ He wondered as he searched his desk for it. MAX warbled next to him. Brains looked at him and MAX was holding up his iPad.**

 **"T-thanks M-MAX," Brains thanked, taking the iPad. He logged into his e-mails. There was only one new one – from an old work associate called Brian Gibson. It was titled** Blueprints.

 **From:** Brian Gibson

 **Subject:** Blueprints

 **Message:**

Dear Hiram,

Attached in the file is the blueprints to the technology I need. I'm sure you have everything you need to make it. Remember you have two weeks.

Brian.

 _ **So, the Mechanic is my ex-work associate, Brian. I never did like him**_ **, Brains thought. He ran the file through some online scans to make sure it did not have a virus. It did not, so he uploaded the file and checked through the blueprints.** ** _Strange. He wants_ batteries _? They are really huge batteries, so he wants them to hold alot of power. What does he want them for? He won't be attempting another Project Sentinel, so what is it for?_**

T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/

 **FAB 1 had landed on Tracy Island. Kayo and Jeff had just finished helping Kerry pack and they were carrying the bags downstairs with Kerry behind them. They arrived in the lounge where Lady Penelope, Parker and Sherbet were waiting with Alan, Gordon and Grandma Tracy. Sherbet ran around Kerry's feet and rolled on her back, wanting to be scratched. Kerry laughed and scratched his tummy. "Aw! You are so gorgeous!" Kerry commented, laughing.**

 **Parker picked up her bags, muttering something about, "Don't know what h'everyone see h'in the mongrel," as he left.**

 **Kerry looked up at a smiling Lady Penelope. "Can I pick him up?" she begged.**

 **Penelope chuckled. "Of course, dear," she permitted. Kerry picked up the dog and he snuggled into her. Kerry took another look at Penelope.**

 **"Wait a minute. I think I've seen you on TV before. Are you part of IR, too?" she asked, excitement growing in her voice.**

 **Penelope looked at Jeff. "She's a friend," was all Jeff said at the moment.**

 **Lady Penelope stood up and Sherbet jumped down and went over to his mistress. "Come along, Sherbet and Kerry. Time to go to Ireland," and Lady Penelope left, with Kerry and Sherbet following. Jeff and the others watched out the window and waved as FAB 1 lifted off into air and flew off for Ireland. _Kerry must be having the time of her life right now_ , Jeff thought with a smile. **

**He looked around and noticed Rae was not there. "Where's Rae?" he asked.**

 **"In the Gym," Kayo said. Jeff nodded and left, heading for the Gym. He entered the Gym and found Rae was full-out exercising. He knew Rae, and knew that she never exercised so vigoursly unless something was bothering her. He walked over to her. She saw him and stopped. She picked up a bottle and took a long swig.**

 **"Hey, Uncle Jeff," she greeted, then took a second drink.**

 **"Hi Rae. Everything alright?" he asked.**

 **Rae paused and he saw the worry in her face. "Very worried. About Virgil and Scott," she whispered. She sniffed and he went over and gave her a hug. She hugged him back. "I'm so worried that the Mechanic won't give them back when Brains hands him this technology. What if he kills them anyway?" She said.**

 **"Don't even think such things," Jeff said, kissing her on the head. "They'll come back. They'll be fine." But Jeff knew that what Rae had said was a real possiblity. He began to formulate a back-up plan for just in case.**

ERROL MORMON'S CASTLE

 _ **A few hours later...**_

 **FAB 1 landed by the castle ruins and Parker turned off the engine. They took a good look at the ruins. The castle was built into a mountain. Some of the castle had collapsed, but most of it was still erect and in good condition. Lady Penelope's compact beeped. Kerry was surprised. "Wow! You guys are awesome!" she said. Penelope opened the compact and saw it was a voice message, no holo-image of the person. She began to play it.**

 _ **"Now that you've landed, you have 28 hours to figure out the challenge,"**_ **said Colonel Casey's voice and then the message ended. Lady Penelope looked at Kerry and saw that the girl was looking really scared. Twenty-eight hours to visit all the castles and figure out the clues so they could save Adam. Yeah. No pressure.**

 **"Come on," Lady Penelope said as she exited the car. Kerry also exited. She handed Sherbet to Parker. "Parker, stay here and keep an eye on Sherbet and the car, please?"**

 **"Yes, m'lady," Parker agreed while Sherbet growled at him and gave him the death stare. Lady Penelope opened the boot of FAB 1 and took out two hard helmets with torches on the top of the helmets and they put them on. The two females walked towards the castle built into the mountain.**

T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/

 _ **Inside the castle...**_

 **"So, where do we look?" Lady Penelope asked as she looked around, her torch beam sweeping the walls, floor and ceiling for the sign of a clue. Dust covered the furniture and she could see rotted remains of a red carpet on the floor. _Pity. It must have been beautiful_ , she silently lamented. She looked at Kerry, who was studying the note, her torch shining on it.**

 **Her compact beeped and she opened it, answering the call. A holo-image of Rae Levy appeared. "Yes, dear?" Lady Penelope greeted.**

 **"Lady P and Kerry," Rae said excitedly, "I was just going over the message just in case there was a hidden clue or something in there. So, I went over it with a UV light torch and found a clue written in invisible ink between the lines – in English!"**

 **"That's great!" Penelope praised. "What does it say?"**

 **" 'The Letters,' " Rae read out. "That's it. And, I don't know what that means."**

 **Kerry turned to Lady Penelope with a confused frown. "What does _the letters_ mean?" she asked.**

 **Lady Penelope thought hard. She had read about the Duke at school, but had forgotten most of it. Then it clicked. "I remember! There was some heavy rumours that circulated about the Duke having an affair with the French Princess Amelia and that they exchanged alot of love letters. But, to prove it, the letters had to be found. The Duke was rumoured to have hidden them somewhere in here, but no-one has been able to find them, so historians and people at large have dismissed it as just a myth made up by someone with a wild imagination," Lady Penelope explained.**

 **"Well, this means that the rumours must be true! Colonel Casey, or someone working for her, must have found the letters and has hidden the clue in one of them and then rehidden the letters again!" Kerry pointed out.**

 **"Yes," Penny said. "But, there's a problem. You see, Errol loved booby traps and defenses, and this castle has several booby traps around. Building into a mountain makes a natural defence. So, we have to be very careful what we touch and where we step." They nodded, said goodbye to Rae, ended the call, and very carefully began searching the hall they were in. They tested the walls and the floor, listening for a hollow sound or a secret lever or something into a hidden room. "I vaguely recollect something about Errol being a lover of science and had a particular obssession with rock formations. He developed a preservation technique that we use today," Penelope reminisced. "Pretty good for the 1920s."**

 **Kerry stuck her head into a room. It was circular, no windows, and a dead end. She realized she was looking into one of the castle's towers. She moved her head around, shining the beam of the torch everywhere, making sure there was no traps before stepping inside the tower. _Wow! I should have brought my camera_ , she lamented. Something up high on the wall caught her eye. It looked like some nook or cranny and something appeared to be inside it. "What if the letters are in there?" she murmured. She walked further into the room, craning her neck to get a better view. **

**Lady Penelope walked up next to her. "What are you looking at, Kerry?"**

 **"There's a crack in the wall up there and it appears that something is inside it," Kerry said. "Is there a way to-" Kerry was cut off by a cracking noise. They looked at each other, then at the floor. Cracks were appearing in the floor around them. "Oh! Muscovite," Kerry said casually. Penny looked at her, confused. "It's a rock formation. You said that Errol had an obssession with rock formations. He must have built the castle around it as it provides a natural booby trap."**

 **"How do you know about all that?" Penelope asked. More cracks appeared.**

 **Kerry grinned. "I saw it in a movie once. Some people walked on the THIN rock formation and it cracked," she said. Penelope's eyes went wide. "I suggest walking back very carefully," she added. They began very, very carefully treading back to the hall. Kerry then took a good look at Penny's footwear. "High heels here? _Seriously!?_ " she commented.**

 **Penelope looked angry. "Hey-" she was cut off when some of the muscovite shattered underneath one of her feet and fell down. Penelope recoiled slightly. It was dark underneath it and neither of them could see the bottom. They took another step forward.**

 **All of the muscovite shattered and they fell down.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks, again, to Bow Echo, High King Peter the Magnificen and Math Girl! I've updated Chapter 12 as a family member as pointed out to me a mistake I made in it. If you want, you can go back and reread Chapter 12. Now, on with the chapter!**

Lady Penelope and Kerry were falling, falling, falling...

No matter how far they fell, they still had not reached the bottom. _How far does this go?_ Penelope thought. _When we hit the bottom, that's going to be messy_. She thought of Gordon Tracy, handsome, well-meaning, cheeky and sloppy. Everything that she loved. _I love you_.

"What's that?" Kerry yelled. Something flew around them and grabbed them, taking them upwards.Lady Penelope looked at the person who had saved them.

" _Parker!?_ " she exclaimed. Parker, her loyal chauffeur, was wearing a JET PACK and was heading inside a tunnel entrance they had not noticed when freefalling.

He turned to her with a smile. "Don't worry, m'lady," he said, "Sherbet's safe h'inside FAB 1. The dog-proof lock h'is on."

Lady Penelope was so relieved, that she burst out laughing as Parker flew them through the tunnel. "How did you find this tunnel, Mr Parker?" Kerry enquired. Lady Penelope quieted down so as to hear him.

"I was secretly listening h'in to you girls," Parker proudly explained, "when I 'eard you fall through the rock. So, I quickly did a scan of the area around me from the car and found an entrance to the tunnel nearby to where I 'ad parked FAB 1. I put on a jet pack and flew through the tunnel and rescued you two."

By the time he had finished describing his heroics, they had exited the tunnel. Parker landed and turned off the jet pack. They went over to the car. "Thank you, Parker," Lady Penelope said.

"You're welcome, m'lady," Parker replied.

"The letters! We need to go back in and find them!" Kerry remembered.

Parker beamed. "No need to worry about that, Miss Kerry," he told her smugly. Penelope and Kerry looked at each other, both confused, then back at Parker.

"What do you mean?" Lady Penelope asked him.

"When I was flying through the tunnel, I saw a metal box lying on the floor. I picked h'it up and peeked h'inside. The letters were h'in h'it. Great preservation technique, I must say," Parker explained and he pulled the box from his jacket.

Lady Penelope took the metal box. It was not very big, but not very small, either. "How do you open this?" she asked. Parker pressed a barely distinguishable button on the top of the box. The lid flung open and inside was the letters. Penelope carefully lifted the letters from the box and began reading them. She was amazed. They were the love letters written between Errol and Princess Amelia – the rumours were true!

After she read one letter, she would hand it to Kerry so she could also read and make sure nothing was missed. They read through five, but there was absolutely no clues or hints about anything. _Why bother mentioning the letters if there was no clue or hint or something?!_ Penelope thought bitterly.

As Penelope handed the sixth letter to Kerry, something fell out of the neat stack of letters. Something smaller than the rest of the letters. Handing the rest of them to Parker and Kerry, Penelope bent down and picked it up. Not quite sure why, but she was excited. She had a strong feeling that this was it.

It was a newspaper clipping from last month. _Huh?_ A clue! It was an article from _The World Daily_ about an upcoming meeting of the World Parliament, World Council and all the world leaders at Buckingham Palace, London, England. The meeting was being hosted by Queen Bridgette IV. _So here's our clue_ , Penelope thought. _What are they trying to tell us with this?_ She told Parker and Kerry about it, and showed them the clipping. "So, something is going to happen there," Kerry said. "Oh! The meeting takes place tomorrow! We better hurry!"

They climbed into the car and Parker sat down in the driver's seat. "M'lady, I was reading the letters and I found another clue," he announced. "H'In the seventh letter some of the letters were smudged, forming the the sentence: _Follow the_ _fleur-de-lis_."

"Parker, it is time to use the teleporter Brains added to the cars gadgets," Penelope ordered. "We are going to visit my ancestor's, Philippe Le Paris, castle in Southern France."

 **TRACY ISLAND**

Professor Moffat entered the lounge. Jeff Tracy had called her to come and help Brains as things were very hectic with trying to do rescues without Scott, Virgil and Thunderbird 1 and Brains needed help to build the large batteries by two weeks. Jeff looked up at her. "Hello, Ms. Moffat," he greeted. "You know where Brains' lab is."

Moffat nodded and headed down for the lab. Upon entering, she saw that she was needed. Brains was obviousely feeling very stressed, as he was going here, there, everywhere trying to find all the right parts. She cleared her throat to grab Brains' attention. "I'm b-busy!" he snapped. "P-please d-don't i-interrupt m-me!" He turned to see who was there and drew up short. "Oh, I apologise, M-Moffie," he quickly apologised.

"That's alright, Hiram," she smiled. "Mr Tracy sent me here to help you. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, of c-course n-not!" he hastened to assure her. "I w-was p-planning to secretly d-do very subtle c-changes t-to the b-batteries t-to f-foil them," he said quietly. "I'm sure that the M-Mechanic i-is g-going t-to d-do something v-very b-bad with them and I am g-going t-to attempt t-to d-delay it."

"Hiram, after everything that Jeff has told me about this, I was scanning everything I passed on this island and I am detecting listening devices around the whole place," Moffat whispered urgently. Brains put his head in his hands. "Don't worry, Hiram," she quickly said, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll do it."

 **IN A GDF FLYER**

Colonel Casey prepared herself for the meeting in Buckingham Palace. It would not happen for a few more hours, but she was heading there, as well as all of Parliament, Council and the leaders. One of her GDF soldiers stuck his head in. "Colonel Casey, I have him," he said.

"Bring him in," she ordered. The soldier shoved a boy in, Adam Hanson, then left, shutting the door. She finished putting on her make-up and turned towards the terrified boy. "Hello, Adam," she said sourly. He glared at her. "I am now telling you that your mother is dead. She died while trying to do the challenge of the castles," she announced. Adam paled and collapsed on the floor, crying and trembling at what that meant. "But, your sister, Kerry, and Lady Penelope have taken up the challenge, fortunately for you." Adam raised his head and looked at her, a spark of hope in his eyes. "But, they won't survive, if I can help it."

"Stuff you," he insulted.

"They now have 27 hours to finish the challenge and work out what we are going to do to save you. They think it is just 27 hours before you die. It is that, but something much more as well." She paused, enjoying Adam's expression of fear. "It is also 27 hours until we unleash the final stages of our plot, the one they are trying to work out. In an hour, we will unleash Project KJUY980, a.k.a. The diversion. But, Penelope and Kerry don't realize that they will die trying to save you."

Adam's heart raced. _Please hurry. Please solve this. PLEASE_.


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks to the usual three and thunderbird shadow! And thanks to all else who read this!**

The Hood sat in his dressing room on the GDF flyer. He had prepared himself for the spectacular show that would come. He could not wait to see what would happen – especially since he had a few hidden surprises that Colonel Casey did not know about! He laughed. _Yes_ , he thought smugly. _It is going to be amazing!_ The Hood was concerned, though. He had not been able to contact Fuse and Havok, a.k.a. Bosworth and Akane. No-one else had seen them either. He wondered if they had finally abandoned him and gone to fully serve that Arabian guy, Azizullah.

He had tried to research Azizullah on the Global Computer Database, but there were too many called Azizullah. _He could be any of them_ , he mused.

 _Brring! Brring! Brring!_

The Hood checked the caller ID, but it was blank. Very suspicious, he answered the call. "Who is it?" he asked cautiously.

"This is the Mechanic."

"What do you want?" the Hood asked. "I would rather not speak to you."

"Oh, believe me, you'll want to listen to this," the Mechanic assured him. "You needn't worry about your precious Chaos Crew any longer. I have disposed of the pitiless humans after they completed their work for me."

"They were working for you?" the Hood asked, his rage stirring.

"Oh, yes. But they told you that they were working for Azizullah," the Mechanic informed him. "And, your little inventions up in space. Well, long story short, I discovered it _and_ have visited the storage base on the Moon. I must say, it is quite ingenious, your inventions. I would not have expected such for a Kyrano. The only Kyrano whom I would have called as intelligent as me was your brother. But, he stupidly died, falling for your deceitful manner."

The Hood's rage boiled over. That was it! That was the last straw! Using his cybernetic eye, he caused as much agony to the Mechanic as he could possibly could. He quite enjoyed the Mechanic's groans and screams. He finally stopped. He heard his enemy breathing heavily. "Okay, Mechanic. Let's settle this once and for all," he challenged.

"Gladly," the Mechanic responded.

"Trafalgar Square, London, England. Tomorrow," the Hood stated.

The Mechanic paused to consider this. "That's idiotic! In public! We'll be apprehended," he pointed out.

"No-one will be around. We won't be arrested," the Hood replied. "Because everyone will be busy with something else."

"Okay. You are going down," the Mechanic agreed and they ended the call.

 **PHILIPPE LE PARIS' CASTLE**

"So," Kerry said as she, Lady Penelope, Sherbet and Parker walked towards the castle ruins. "How do you know that this is the right one?"

"Well," Lady Penelope explained, "when I saw the pictures of the castle ruins, I knew I had visited them before, but could not remember the names. I had just remembered that the one in France, this one, was my ancestor's when Parker mentioned the message _Follow the fleur-de-lis_ I knew then that my memory was correct as I recall my mother telling me that Philippe Le Paris loved the fleur-de-lis and had painted it around the inside of his castle."

"So, 'ow h'are we supposed to follow them h'if they are everywhere?" Parker enquired.

"I'm actually not sure," Penny admitted. "But, I'm sure we'll know when we see them." Kerry and Parker secretly shared worried looks. _What if we have to thoroughly search before we know where we are supposed to be led to?_ Kerry thought despairingly. _What if we don't solve this in time?_ She did not want to think of that, and followed Lady Penelope inside the ruins.

Inside, she looked around. Lady Penelope history was certainly correct. She saw a painting of the fleur-de-lis everywhere. She studied the nearest old painting. Nothing unusual about it. Nothing...

Except for the fact that there was an outline of an arrow drawn in the middle of the fleur-de-lis. Barely noticeable, but it was there. And appeared to be drawn by a lead pencil. She found the closest fleur-de-lis, and checked the middle. Yep. She was not imagining things. An arrow was there. And pointing in the same direction as the other one. "Ms Creighton-Ward?" she said.

"Found something, Kerry?" Lady Penelope asked as she came over and stood next to Kerry.  
"In the middle of the paintings of the fleur-de-lis', there is a arrow drawn. You can hardly notic it, but it's there," Kerry informed her. Penelope leaned downwards and squinted. Kerry ran to the next one and the next one. The arrows were all pointing in the same direction – down what used to be a hallway.

"Well," Penelope commented. "There's the clue. We just need to follow them." She and Parker followed Kerry, who was going from fleur-de-lis to fleur-de-lis on the wall, studying each one carefully. She then turned an abrupt right and began climbing a circular stairwell, that was still intact. A fleur-de-lis was painted on the stairs and an arrow pointing upwards was drawn in each one. She ran up higher. At the top of the stairwell, she checked behind her and saw Penelope and Parker were following her, Penny carrying Sherbet. She waited until they reached her before searching for the next fleur-de-lis painting. There! One on the wall. She looked carefully. One was there and was pointing towards a room straight ahead. The door was slightly ajar.

Parker stepped forward and went to the door. He opened the door and stuck his head in. "Flippin' strewth!" he exclaimed and immediately dropped to the floor, rolling towards the girls. They heard gun shots and dropped to the floor. Bullets flew everywhere, Sherbet whimpered. The door was completely destroyed and Kerry risked looking towards the door and saw two gunmen standing there, holding guns.

 **IN A GDF FLYER**

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

A GDF soldier knocked on the door to the cockpit. "Come in!" barked one of the pilots. She opened the door and saluted as Colonel Casey was in there.

"What is it, Sophie?" Casey enquired.

"Madam, one of the agents you sent to France has called in," Sophie reported. "He says that they were successful and that the aristocrat, that driver and the girl have been killed."

Colonel Casey breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled. "Thank you, Sophie," she said. "You may go now." Sophie saluted and left the cockpit. _Now, those problems are solved, nothing can stop us_ , she happily thought. Laura Casey even laughed.

 **FRANCE**

"There! That should keep them off our back for a while," Parker said as he radio. After Penelope and himself had apprehended the two, he had activated a holographic and voice disguise that he had found on one of the men, and used it to their advantage. They had recognized them as members of the GDF, and realized that Colonel Casey must have ordered them dead. So, Parker had called in and used a little trick from his misspent youth.

"Now, let's search that room," Lady Penelope smiled and they cautiously entered the room, Parker and Penelope holding the mens' weapons. There was no other danger, so they began searching.

The room used to be a bedroom. But, there was no furniture anymore, and they could not find anything out of place, or what seemed to be a clue. Kerry crossed her arms across her chest and stared up at the wall. There was a decaying painting of a fleur-de-lis high up on the wall. _Oh_ , she thought. _Clever_. She told the others and Parker tried to reach the spot, but it was too high up. "Come on, Miss Kerry," he offered. "Stand on my shoulders."

Kerry carefully climbed on his shoulders and her eyes were level with the fleur-de-lis. Parker let out a sharp cry. "Blimey!" he grunted. There was something written in the middle. And it was written in pencil. _Answer lies behind here_. Then she noticed that there was no mortar around the brick that the centre of the fleur-de-lis was painted on. On a hunch, she gripped both edges of the brick, and tried moving it. It moved an inch. She kept slowly moving it until she had it completely out. She held it in one hand and looked inside the hole.

There was two metal objects. She reached in and pulled them out. Climbing down, they all took a look at them. One was of a robot. The other was of a man with some mechanical limbs. A cyborg. It did not make sense. A clipping about tomorrow's meeting at Buckingham Palace, now a metal figure of a cyborg and a robot. _What does it mean?_ Kerry thought. Sherbet was on the floor and was sniffing the brick that Kerry had put down on the floor. He began to bark. "What is it, Bertie?" Penelope asked, kneeling down. She picked up the brick and looked at the back of the brick. Some words were painted on them, and it looked like recent.

 _Now you need to run with the bulls. St Fernando's. Every cloud has a silver lining._

"Well done, Bertie," Lady Penelope praised her dog, and gave him an affectionate scratch. She read out the message to Parker and Kerry. "So, we are going to Spain next," she summarised.

"But what's St Fernando's?" Kerry asked. "And what do they mean by _'every cloud has a silver lining_?' "

"St Fernando's h'is the name of h'a castle for the King of Spain in the early 21st century. 'E 'ad h'it named h'after his father, whom 'e was convinced was h'a saint," Parker informed them. "I know because I've been there before. The jewellary there made me quite h'alot of money." Then realising what he had just confessed, quickly added: "Allegedly."

They headed back down, with the metal figures, and into FAB 1, where they teleported themselves to Spain.

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON**

Everyone had just arrived. Queen Bridgette IV greeted each guest as they entered the palace. As soon as everyone was seated, the servants streamed in, serving the food and drink. Colonel Casey was seated next to Martin Bond. She checked her watch. Just five more minutes, and the diversion would start. Once everyone was distracted, a submarine would slip unnoticed into the River Thames and deliver Project ZULA2435. She looked up and made eye contact with Bond. It was almost time.

 _ **Five minutes later...**_

The soldiers without emblems were in hiding all around London, ready to strike. Warren Orbit heard Casey speak over his earpiece. "Now." He and his work partner, Frank, took out a grenade and pulled the pin. They ran to the door of their hotel roon, opened it and threw it down the hall. Shutting the door, they ducked as the grenade exploded.

Running out into the hall, they saw a large hole in the floor and ceiling. An alarm was blaring. They ran down the stairs, throwing grenades on each floor as they passed. It began the chain reaction of destruction.

 **TOWER OF LONDON**

The assailants planted the bombs around the base of the Tower and then ran a distance away for cover. Covering their ears, they ducked as the bombs exploded.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

Gregory Lucas watched as a servant came up to Queen Bridgette and whispered something in her ear. She looked worried, but quickly pulled out her phone. She excused herself and stepped out of the room. _So far, so good_.

Once away from the others, Bridgette dialed the number. "Yes, Your Majesty?" General Mitchell answered.

"There have been several explosions around London," the queen told him urgently. "Attacks to hotels, the Tower of London. People have been murdered. And, the assailants are reported to be soldiers. Get the army ready. Get the police. You must stop them." Mitchell agreed and they hung up.

"Your Majesty."

Bridgette turned. A bald man in a black business suit was standing behind her with a smile. He bowed. "There is something you should know."

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

The submarine slowly made its way through the River Thames. With all the fighting going on around the city, no-one noticed, nor was around, when it docked at the designated spot underneath the water. The captain opened the door and his crew and himself unloaded the crates into the storage area underneath London. They finished unloading and the captain was about to call Colonel Casey when a figure dressed entirely in black stepped into the storage area. "Your entrance is unauthorised," the captain said. "Leave."

Suddenly, several figures in black swarmed into the room. Before any of the crew could react, they were shot dead by the figures. The figures checked the inside of the boxes. "Good," the leader said out loud. "They are there and intact. Now, to carry out the plan."


	15. Chapter 15

**TRACY ISLAND**

Finally having a moment to relax, the Tracys, Rae, Kayo, Brains and Moffat (who were next to each other) were seated around the dinner table, eating some pasta with meat balls that Grandma Tracy had made with Rae's help. "I wonder how the search is going with Lady P, Parker and Kerry?" Jeff wondered out loud.

"I can call Penny and find out," Gordon immediately volunteered. "I don't mind."

Kayo and Grandma Tracy looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Alan Tracy! What _are_ you doing?" Grandma Tracy suddenly snapped. Everyone looked at Alan, who was sheepishly trying to hide his tabloid under the table. "You don't have them darn electronics at the table, young man!"

"But, Grandma, there is an interesting article on the news about an attack on London! It's all over the media!" Alan protested.

That grabbed everyone's attention and Professor Moffat turned on the holo-television. Kat Cavanaugh was reporting on the attack. "This is just shocking! The Tower of London has been bombed, explosions going off on each floor of some hotels, causing them to collapse. Witnesses have claimed that the attackers are men and women in khaki uniforms, but they could not see any emblems. Many people have claimed that this attack is due to terrorism. The attack coincided with the arrival of the World Parliament, World Council, world leaders and GDF at Buckingham Palace for the meeting tomorrow with the Queen. They had all arrived today, and were going to have the meeting tomorrow, when the attacks began. But a spokesmen for Queen Bridgette IV has stated that the meeting will still take place tomorrow. The attacks have subsided. The British military and police have clamped down on the attacks, and have apprehended most of the attackers. Some have escaped. And the reports have been confirmed. The attackers are dressed as soldiers, but missing the emblems-"

"Whoa! Soldiers without emblems!" Alan exclaimed. "Remember the photograph of those soldiers practicing an arms drill, and Parker had said that they had no emblems?"

Footage of some of the arrests began playing on the holo-television. None of the soldiers had any emblems. And they looked just like the ones in the photo. "Interesting," Jeff muttered. "But why would they attack London?"

 **ST. FERNANDO'S, SPAIN**

Parker frowned. They had been searching throughout the ruins, and Parker had found a few artifacts for his 'collection', but they had not found anything. Nothing to do with silver lining, or clouds. Something kept niggling at the back of Parker's mind. He remembered that when he had last paid a visit to St. Fernando's that there had been something about silver lining, but he could not quite remember what it was. _What the hell was it?_ he thought in frustration.

"I don't know what to do, Kerry," her ladyship was saying as she and Kerry walked into the hallway where Parker was, interrupting his thoughts. "I am so, so sorry, but I don't have any ideas about where the cloud is. Or what the _silver lining_ is."

"Oh. Of course!" Parker exclaimed. He had been listening to Lady Penelope, and the suddenly hearing her say _'silver lining'_ made him remember. "Milady, I know where to look!" he exclaimed and hurried off down the hall and turned left into a room. Sure enough, there it was. _Not 'alf bad, Grey Ninja_ , he complimented himself.

"Parker, what is it? How do you know what it means?" Lady Penelope bombarded him with questions as she and Kerry swiftly entered the room, having followed him.

"Milady," Parker said importantly, "the remark about a cloud was just to throw the searcher off. What we really need to look for is something with silver lining."  
"Okay, I am going to assume you know this from your previous visit," Kerry commented. Parker nodded.

"There was h'an old cabinet made of gold, with silver lining the inside," Parker reminisced. "Right there!" and he pointed across the room to the cabinet. Sure enough, it was made of gold. Parker walked over and opened it and yes, it was lined with silver. "But 'ow exactly it tells us what's coming beats me," he admitted.

"And how do you know that this is what we are looking for?" Lady Penelope queried.

"Simple. H'it was the only thing that the King of Spain had h'any silver h'in," Parker explained. They carefully studied the silver, but they could not see anything. " 'Ang on," Parker muttered. "That's grey paint, not h'actual silver." He pulled out a Swiss Army Knife he had in his trouser pocket, and began cutting away around the edge of a rectangle-shaped object on one of the walls that was covered in grey paint. He gently pried the object off the wall and held it in his hands, looking at it. It was an envelope. Using the same knife, he broke the seal and opened the envelope.

They stepped away from the cabinet and Parker emptied the contents on the floor and knelt down. He picked up a photo and gasped. It was a photo of the arms drill, the same on Diana Winter's USB. "So, it _is_ important to this," Kerry commented. She had been reading over his shoulder. Parker picked up another piece of paper and read it out loud.

" _Yes, the arms drill. They are the distraction, so that we can safely bring the actual threat into London. Wondering what the actual threat is? You've got the metal figurines right there. Next destination: Bodiam Castle. The final piece of the puzzle is hidden in a metal cylinder in the moat._ "

They were silent for a minute. "So, the soldiers are distracting the population from the cyborgs and robots that are entering London? How would anyone not notice cyborgs and robots?" Penelope said.

"I don't know, Milady," Parker replied. "But, we need to get to Bodiam Castle ASAP."

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

The Hood was happy. Everything was going perfectly at the moment. He had told Bridgette about the upcoming attack and had convinced her that he was wanting to help. He had told her exactly where and how the cyborgs and robots would be transported into London, and, with her approval, he had sent in some of his henchmen and had successfully retrieved them from Casey's men. _Since I helped make them_ , he reasoned, _I should be allowed to have them_. They were in guest rooms in the palace as they had been taken there by the palace guards due to the attacks. The meeting was still going to take place tomorrow, which was wonderful! Now with the delivery and the queen on his side, he had all he needed.

 _Colonel Casey, my surprises will surprise you, I guarantee. As well as the Mechanic_.

 **BODIAM CASTLE, ENGLAND**

Sherbet, Kerry, Parker and Lady Penelope stepped out of FAB 1 and surveyed the old castle and the moat around it. "So, one of us needs to swim," Penelope remarked. She turned to Kerry. "Would you like to swim, dear?"

Kerry visibly recoiled. "Uh...no, thanks, ma'am. I...don't like water," she refused.

Penelope understood, and simply nodded. "Okay, then. I'll do it," and with that, she turned and walked to the boot of her pink Rolls-Royce. She opened the boot and pulled out a pink swimsuit, helmet and air tank. She looked at Kerry and Parker and shooed them away. Kerry stood at the edge of the moat and admired the castle.

"Wow! I sure would like to visit it under different circumstances," she commented. But she felt excited. "We are going to find the last clue! Then we can save Adam. We still have time."

"You know," Parker said to her, "what can the cyborgs h'and robots do? I mean, what can they h'attack? I just checked the news, h'and the distraction has h'already happened. Which means, the h'actual threat h'is h'in London right now. The destruction from the distraction was 'UGE. What can the cyborgs h'and robots h'attack now?"

"Hmm. I wonder what they are needed for? Maybe they are supposed to do something else as well," Kerry theorised. Lady Penelope came over then. She turned on the radio in her helmet and dove in. Parker and Kerry ran to FAB 1, and Parker turned on the radio in the car so as to talk to her ladyship.

 _"Parker?"_ Lady Penelope's voice came over the radio.

"Yes, Milady?" Parker answered.

 _"It was in a metal cylinder, you said?"_

"Yes, Milady. That's what the note said," Parker replied.

 _"Ah._ _Because I think I see it..."_ Kerry waited impatiently as she waited for Penelope to say she had found it. She looked up at the moat, expecting to see her surface. _"Oh._ _Sorry_. _Never mind._ _Not_ _it,"_ Penelope apologised. Kerry let out a breath she did not realise she had been holding and closed her eyes. _Hurry up and find it!_ she silently urged.

There was silence for a few minutes. With each passing minute, Kerry grew more and more convinced that they were not going to find it. That they would not be in time to save Adam. _"I've found it!"_ Lady Penelope's triumphant declaration came over the radio. Parker and Kerry looked out at the moat and saw Penelope swimming back towards them, holding the cylinder.

"Yes!" Kerry whispered. They stepped out and came over to Penelope. Penelope took off her helmet and sat down on the ground. She opened the cylinder and pulled out some paper and began to read. "What's the clue?" Kerry eagerly asked.

"Shh! Let her read!" Parker scolded. Penelope frowned, then gasped in realization. Then she paled. "What h'is h'it, Milady?" Parker questioned, very worried. "What's the clue?"

"Bridgette told me that Kim Un was threatening her to submit to the World Parliament," Penelope muttered to herself. "Kim Un, the Hood, the Mechanic and Lucas creating a cyborg army, supposedly scrapped. Oh, shit!" She looked at them and sighed. "The cyborg figurine – remember how my contacts had discovered that Un, Hood, Mechanic and Lucas had all been involved in creating a cyborg army, but apparently scrapped it?" They nodded. "Well, it wasn't scrapped. They pretended it was, but have been secretly working on it, along with a robot army. That is the actual threat. Bridgette has been pressured to join the World Parliament, but she has refused, wanting to be free. The cyborg and robot army is to force her to join."

"How?" Kerry asked.

"The soldiers doing the arms drill? They are supposed to cause destruction around London so that they can sneak a submarine with the real threat into the River Thames, where it will unload it's cargo. When the meeting takes place tomorrow with Bridgette, and the others, the cyborg and robot army is supposed to have been placed around London, even infiltrate the palace (as they are disguised as the guards and servants) and once the meeting is under way, the armies are going to attack, killing Bridgette's family, then going through London, destroying it and killing everyone still in it. Then they are to go through all of England and destroy towns and cities, killing everyone until Bridgette joins the World Parliament and government," Penny explained.

"And what happens if she doesn't join after all that?" Kerry asked.

"England will be no more."


	16. Chapter 16

_**Heading for London, England**_

Parker was driving FAB 1 to London as fast as possible. "We only have a few hours left," Lady Penelope mused. "We need some help to stop this." She pulled out her compact.

 **TRACY ISLAND**

Jeff was sitting down at his desk when there was a _beep! beep! beep!_ He pressed a button on his desk, which accepted the call and a holo-image of Lady Penelope shone from her eyes in the picture hanging on the wall. "Jeff, we have a situation," Penelope began.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Rae and Alan entered Thunderbird 2's cockpit. Gordon was already there, sitting in the pilot's seat, making sure everything was ready for launch. Alan sat down in the co-pilot's seat, and Rae in the guest's seat. Gordon raised Thunderbird 2 and selected the pod - Pod 5. Jeff, after having a talk with Penelope, had called them to the lounge to inform them of what Penny, Parker and Kerry had discovered. Kayo was suiting up to head to London in Thunderbird Shadow to help Penny, Parker and Kerry. Rae, Gordon and Alan were going in Thunderbird 2 to help as well.

Gordon lowered TB2 down on Pod 5 and Brains opened the hangar door. Part of the rock face lowered downwards and he moved Thunderbird 2 forward onto TB2's runway. The palm trees were tilted backwards out of the way. Thunderbird 2 stopped and was raised up on a launch pad and launched.

"Thunderbird 2 is go!" Gordon and Alan said simultaneously.

 **THUNDERBIRD SHADOW**

Kayo was where she most loved to be – up in the air, flying her 'Bird. Also, she was going to London to help stop the World Parliament from destroying England, so she was enjoying her day so far. She just hoped that they would be able to stop it in time. Then she noticed that the deadline for the actual attack was the exact same deadline for the allotted time to save Adam, from what Penelope had mentioned. _Great_.

 **LONDON, ENGLAND**

Parker drove through a ruined part of London, having turned on the optical camouflage, trying to find a place to spend the night. "So, now that we have discovered what they are planning to do before the 28 hours are up," Kerry said, "we can get Adam back!"

Penelope nodded. "We will have to contact Colonel Casey, but that means revealing that we are actually alive," she commented.

"She h'isn't gonna' be pleased," Parker muttered.

"Might as well call her," Penelope sighed and pulled out her phone.

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

 _ **In the guest bedroom...**_

Laura Casey was jolted out of her sleep by her phone ringing. _Oh, bugger_ , she thought as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and picked up the phone. She checked the caller ID. _Penelope? How...?_ She answered the call. "Penelope?" Casey answered.

 _"And whom were you expecting?"_ was the response.

"But, you're meant to be dead." Casey turned on her laptop and began tracking where Penelope was calling from. _Drat! They're on Weymouth Street._

 _"I can assure you I am alive and well. Now, we have completed the challenge and know what you are going to do,"_ Penelope informed her.

"Oh, really? And what are we going to do?" Casey asked. She listened in annoyance as Penelope described the plan. "Well, well. You certainly did work it out," Casey said through gritted teeth.

 _"Now, what about Adam?"_ Penelope queried.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

Warren Orbit and the other soldiers were hiding out in the ruins of a building. Warren was lazily skimming through his e-mails when a new one came in from Colonel Casey. He opened it.

 _On the phone to Penelope Creighton-Ward. She is in Weymouth Street. GDF reinforcements have been informed and are coming. Stalling P at the moment. Go now_.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/**

Frank, Orbit's friend, was on the roof in Weymouth street. He could not see any vehicle that matched the description of Penelope's car, or any people, so used an infra-red scanner. He detected three people in the street below him. He looked downwards, but could not see anything. _They must have a invisibility cloak on_ , he realized. Frank pulled out a jamming device and turned it on.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

Penelope frowned as she pocketed her phone. "That's strange," she muttered to herself. "I was talking to Casey, then the phone suddenly turned off."

"That's not the h'only thing wrong 'ere, m'lady," Parker replied. "The car's suddenly gone h'offline."

"That means the invisibility cloak has been turned off," Kerry realized.

Then, soldiers suddenly streamed into the street and all aimed their weapons at FAB 1. GDF vehicles rumbled into the street. And with FAB 1 completely offline, they could not use their weapons. "This is rather distressing," Penelope said.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/**

Kerry grunted as she hit the floor. Parker, Penelope, and Kerry had been taken to Devonshire Street, where all the medical establishments were. They had been taken into one of the establishments and thrown into one of the rooms. When they had climbed out of the car, the soldiers had stripped Penelope and Parker of all of their secret communication devices, weapons, and gadgets. Looking up, she saw Colonel Casey standing infront of her, looking quite displeased.

"Since you have worked it out, here's Adam," and she stepped aside. Behind her was a dirty, terrified looking boy.

"ADAM!" Kerry cried out and Adam rushed forward and they embraced. Suddenly, she was yanked away and dragged from the room.

"Lock them up," she heard Casey say. "The allotted time is almost up. We'll kill them all then."

Kerry tried to fight back, but the soldiers were too strong and soon she was thrown into one of the rooms and the door was shut and locked. She immediately stood up and felt around the room, hoping for a means of escape. But there was no windows. The walls and the floor was all made of thick concrete. She tried not to panic at the thought that there was only a few hours left until she died, but the panic grew. She banned on the door, screaming to be let out, which was useless. She sank to the floor, crying.

There was no way out. No escape.

 _ **Somewhere else around the world...**_

The Mechanic sat down in the pilot's seat of his plane. He was connected to his plane with his cybernetics using the cables. He had injected his hostages with a knock-out drug so that they would be knocked out while he was dealing with the Hood in London. He had programmed his Mechas to keep guard of his hideout. Once the plane's engine was warmed up, he launched, heading for London.

In hiding down in a cave at the bottom of the ravine, Havok and Fuse saw the Mechanic's plane fly off. After being thrown down the ravine by the Scorpion Mechas, their bodies had been rebuilt by the nanobots coursing through their bodies. They had been hiding out in the cave, waiting for the Mechanic to leave to get their revenge. Now he was gone, and according to Havok's scans, only the Mechanic was on the plane. Which meant that Scott Tracy and Virgil Tracy were in the hideout. _Perfect_.

"Come on," she turned to Fuse. "It's time for the mice to play."


	17. Chapter 17

_**In the skies above London...**_

Dawn was only four hours away. Kayo circled London as she repeatedly tried contacting Penelope and Parker. No matter what channel she tried, neither of them would not pick up. She had gone silent after reporting in that they had arrived in London. Kayo had already done several scans of London down below, but there was no sign of FAB 1, Kerry, Parker or Penelope. She was very concerned. "Tracy Island from Thunderbird Shadow. I have tried contacting Parker and Penelope, but I cannot raise either of them on any of our communication devices. Can you try?"

Grandma Tracy's hologram appeared. "Jeff's just gone to the toilet, Kayo," she explained. "But, I'll try, if that's alright?"

"Thanks, Grandma," Kayo replied. "Do you know what the channels are?"

Grandma scoffed. "Of course I do! I helped come up with the ideas for them alongside Jeff and Brains. I do love spy stuff, you know," and with that, she began trying to raise the London agents. "Sorry, kiddo," she said after a few minutes. "Can't raise them, either. Wonder what's happened to them?"

Kayo thanked her and ended the call. She was worried. They always answered. And she could not find any sign of them anywhere. Something had happened to them. _Where are you?_

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T**

The Mechanic's ship arrived at London at dawn. The sunrise _was_ quite beautiful, he grudgingly admitted, but he quickly pushed the thought from his mind. Needed to focus on defeating and finally getting rid of the Hood. Needed to prep, have as many tricks and weapons on him as possible. Should bring some of his Mechas on board his ship along, as well, just in case. Though, he reflected, the Hood still had his cybernetic eye, and could still control him. The Hood would most likely use it to win. That was a problem.

Something was flashing on the controls. An aircraft was nearby. He enlarged the image and raised his eyebrows. One of the International Rescue's craft – oh, yes. It belonged to the Hood's niece – was landing on the side of a building nearby, using it's talons to grip the side. What was _she_ doing here? She could not have known about his meeting with the Hood. He decided to wait and see what she would do. He would not attack. She was not interfering with his plans at the moment. The Mechanic would keep an eye on her, though, and if she seemed to be interfering, he would blast her to pieces, along with her 'Bird.

 **THUNDERBIRD 2**

 _"Thunderbird 2, this is Jeff. What's your ETA?"_

"Tracy Island, this is TB2. Hi Dad. We should be arriving in two hours," Gordon replied.

 _"Good. We've lost contact with Lady P, Parker, and Kerry, though. We've tried to raise them on all communication channels, but they won't answer,"_ Jeff informed the trio.

"Oh no! That's terrible! Wonder what's happened to them?" Gordon said, very worried about them.

 _"That's a good question. Will let you know when we hear from them. Get there as soon as possible. Tracy Island out."_

 **DEVONSHIRE STREET, LONDON**

Penelope sat down, hugging her legs. Very unladylike, but right now, she was focusing on how to get out. All of their secret communication devices and gadgets, gizmos and whatnot had been taken off them. All of them except...

 _My necklace!_ She smiled as she remembered only the Tracys, Kayo, Brains and Parker knew that it was a secret communication device. She could contact them using Morse code. All she had to do was tap the diamond on the necklace – a tap for dots, a press for dashes.

 **THUNDERBIRD SHADOW**

Kayo was curious and worried. She was in TBS, on the side of a building to conserve her fuel. As soon as she had landed, she had seen one of the Mechanic's ships flying over London and landing somewhere, though she did not know where. _What the hell is he doing here? What's going on?_

Then she heard some beeping. _Huh?_ She listened. It was in a pattern, repeating itself. And it was very strange. Some beeps were long. _Morse code!_ She listened carefully, translating it in her head.

 _ **Been kidnapped. By Colonel Casey. Medical establishment. Devonshire Street. No. 13. In separate rooms. Going to be killed at 8 am with Adam.**_

Her fist punched the air and she let out a yell. She wasn't happy about them being kidnapped or going to be killed, but was delighted that they knew where she was. She turned on a system that would allow her to respond and, using Morse code, replied,

 _ **This is K. Coming.**_

Penelope replied,

 _ **Hurry!**_

Kayo reported it in to Tracy Island, Thunderbird 5, and Thunderbird 2. Then she climbed out of Thunderbird Shadow and jumped down to the street below as quietly as a cat. She turned on her holo-map of London and found Devonshire Street. She kept to the shadows and headed for Devonshire.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Scott blinked. He looked around. He was still in the chair and in the same room, except that the light was on. He looked down and saw that his was no longer chained to the chair. He looked over at Virgil, who had just woken up and was looking down in confusion. He was also unrestrained. _What has happened?_ was the question in both of their eyes. They both stood up. Nothing happened. "The Mechanic can't be setting us free so soon, can he?" Virgil asked the nagging question.

"No. But we are," said a voice. They both looked towards the light switches and saw a male and a female standing there. No! It couldn't be! The Mechanic had them killed.

"Bosworth and Akane?" Scott said, not believing his eyes.

"Yes," replied Fuse.

"What are you two up to?" Virgil questioned. Scott heard contempt and suspicion laced in his younger brother's voice.

"And to think I thought that you two would thank us for freeing you guys," Havok said in mock disappointment. "How stupid of me."

Scott felt like beating the life out of those two, but knew that the Chaos Crew were much better equipped at the moment. "And why did you two free us? You've suddenly grown a heart?" Scott asked.

"The Mechanic tried to kill us, even though we never betrayed him," spat Fuse/Bosworth. "He's left for the moment. And we want our revenge on him."

"So, freeing us is meant to foil his plan?" Virgil asked, doubtful of what the two were saying.

Havok nodded. "I've been tracking the Mechanic's ship. He's in London. Not sure why, but we are going there to be done with him. That's where you two come in," she responded. "We need you two to help us get rid of the Mechanic."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Calling favours now, are you? Forget it!" and he and Virgil began heading for the open door.

"We helped you guys. You owe us a favour," Fuse called after them. They ignored them and just kept walking. "Fine! We'll kill your siblings and Rae!"

Scott stopped and turned around, fear in his gut. His eyes met Virgil's and he saw sudden fear swirling around in his usually calm eyes. "How can you kill them?" Scott asked, hoping that they were joking.

"Gordon, Alan, and Rae are in Thunderbird 2, heading for London as well. We have a powerful EMP beam pointed at them, and yes, it can hit them from here. We'll bring the 'Bird down and bring your family into this room and kill them before your very eyes. Maybe have a little fun with them before killing them," Fuse explained, a smirk on his face. "And you two will be tied up in the chairs, not able to do anything."

Scott looked back at Virgil, who looked at him. Virgil mouthed a single word: _Please_. He knew that they had no choice. "Fine. We'll do it," Scott reluctantly agreed, facing Fuse again.

Fuse smiled. "Good boys," he said.

 **LONDON**

The Hood was absolutely furious. He had overheard two members of the World Parliament talking about how Thunderbird 2 had landed in a ruined part of London. And there were heavy rumours circulating that there had been sightings of his niece, Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano going around town. How _dare_ they show up! Then a thought crossed his mind. Now that he had Bridgette under his control with his cybernetic eye and had the cyborgs and robots, he could easily get rid of that pesky International Pain-In-The-Neck.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

They all sat down in the dining room for breakfast. Casey was seated next to Martin Bond. How she really wished she could arrest him, but after he escaped, Russia decided Janus was good enough for them, hired him, changing his surname to Bond. So, she could not touch him. Martin checked his watch. " **7:30 a.m.** ," he announced. "In half an hour, the meeting starts."

 **DEVONSHIRE STREET**

Kayo walked up to number 13. Her eyes swept the door. There did not appear to be any alarm. But, to be safe, she walked over to the side. There was a window nearby. She peered into the room. There was a sink and a toilet in there. There was no-one in the room. After double-checking for any alarms (and there wasn't any for the window), Kayo carefully pushed the window up (it was a double-hung window) and climbed in. Dropping quietly to the ground, she went over to the door and listened. No sound. She opened it and found herself in a hallway. She began walking down, wondering why it was so quiet.

She heard a creak of a floor board behind her. Then silence. She turned around in an attack posture, but there was no-one there. She turned around...

And something dropped from the ceiling on top of her, knocking her down.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

"So, how are we supposed to do this?" Alan asked as they sat in TB2 after landing, not sure what to do.

John's hologram appeared. "Don't you people remember that Brains made those holographic disguises recently? They are installed in your comms. Also, the change of the guard is about to happen. You three can disguise holographically as some of the guards and enter the palace," John suggested.

"John, you're a genius!" Gordon praised and, using the device in their comms, they holographically made themselves look like three of the guards. "We're going in."


	18. Chapter 18

**I am almost finished this story. Enjoy!**

 **OUTSIDE BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

The new lot of guards walked over to their posts with brisk, military strides. The previous shift then left. The new shift were the human-looking robots and cyborgs. Some of the new shift entered Buckingham Palace. Three of them were Gordon, Alan, and Rae, who had gotten their hands on some weapons. After entering the palace, Alan raised his arm (pretending to be wiping his nose) and whispered into a minuscule communication device on his sleeve, "We're in."

 **THUNDERBIRD 5**

"Good," John whispered. "I'm monitoring the place to keep an eye on you three."

 **13 DEVONSHIRE STREET, LONDON**

Kayo flipped over onto her back. Now she was lying on her back, the assailant underneath her. She got off the attacker and looked at the person. It was a young woman in a GDF uniform. The woman jumped up and swung a fist. Kayo ducked and swung her leg, knocking the woman off her feet. But the woman didn't fall. Instead she did a back flip and got back on her feet. Both the woman crouched in defensive postures.

Kayo punched the woman in the solar plexus, causing her enemy to double over in pain. Kayo then delivered some well-aimed punches and kicks, knocking the woman out. _She's like a spider, being able to climb up the walls and on the ceiling_ , Kayo thought, wishing she could do that. A shrill alarm sounded. Kayo pulled out her holo-disguise device and holographically disguised as a GDF soldier. She walked through the aisles until she came across another GDF soldier, who had just turned on the lock down mode. "Excuse me?" Kayo asked. The GDF soldier turned around, a male. "Where are the prisoners? A Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, her chauffeur, Aloysius Parker, a young boy called Adam Hanson, and a teenage girl, Ms. Kerry Phillips. Colonel Casey wants me to take them away to the decided place for execution," Kayo enquired.

He checked his watch. Kayo knew that it was soon going to be **8 a.m.** , the time for the execution. "Alright. Come on. I'll show you," and he turned and led the way through the building. He stopped at one door and pressed his palm on a biometric scanner next to the door. It scanned his hand, and then the door swung open. "Wait here." He went inside and emerged a few minutes later with an uncooperative Lady Penelope. Penelope was squirming, kicking, doing everything she could to break free. Two other soldiers came over. "Take this woman to the vehicle and chain her in there. Then come back to get the others," the man ordered.

"Yes, sir!" they saluted and dragged Penelope off. Kayo felt so bad. She desperately wanted to beat the hang out of them – probably could take them all with a hand tied behind her back to boot – but knew that right then, discretion was the better part of valour, as the saying goes. The man then led Kayo to the rest of the prison cells, where he took Parker, Adam, and Kerry out. The two guards and the man dragged them off, with Kayo following. They stepped outside and into a garage where an armour-plated vehicle was waiting. _Never driven one of them before_ , Kayo thought. _Darn!_ The three GDF soldiers took Kerry, Adam, and Parker inside and then climbed out a few minutes later. "They are chained up. Here is the keys," and the man gave her the keys.

Kayo accepted the keys and climbed in, closing the hatch. She decided to wait until they were away from there before freeing them, as much as it pained her. She went over to the controls and examined them. She turned off her holo-disguise, then called Thunderbird 5, using a signal that no-one could trace or pick up. John would know how to drive the blimin' thing as he used to be a GDF soldier before Jeff created International Rescue. _"K, what's up?"_

"No time to explain, but I really need to know how to drive one of the GDF's armour-plated vehicles," Kayo replied. John talked her through the instructions, and soon Kayo had the vehicle out of the street and heading for Buckingham Palace, after she tore out the tracking antennae that was on the dashboard. She stopped the thing briefly to free Penny, Parker, Kerry, and Adam. "Now, what's happening with Gordo, Al, and Rae?" she queried.

"They have snuck inside Buckingham Palace to try and sabotage the meeting," John informed her.

"Right. We'll head there now."

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

Breakfast over, everyone headed to the meeting room. Kim Un glanced at Colonel Casey. It would soon be time.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

"So, now that we are in here, what's the plan?" Alan whispered as he, Gordon, and Rae where standing guard in one of the palaces hallways.

"Umm...we find where the meeting is being held and...stop it," Gordon replied hesitantly.

"How?" Alan pressed.

Gordon fumbled. "Uh...well, I'm sure we'll think of something," he replied.

Rae looked at him with a smirk. "Great plan," she replied sarcastically.

 _ **Elsewhere in London...**_

Fuse and Havok landed the spare plane that the Mechanic had on the roof of a building. They had a cloaking device on that would make them invisible to scanners, radar, infra-red, etc., so they stood a good chance of not being noticed by anyone. Havok, Fuse, Scott, and Virgil climbed out. "Where's the Mechanic?" Scott asked as he began climbing down the wall of the building using the exo-suit that Havok had handed him. He and Virgil were armed with weapons, the exo-suits, and a USB device of all things.

"While flying over here, I detected his plane a few blocks from here. Not far too walk," Fuse replied as he pushed off the wall and down onto the street.

"So, what's the darn USB device for?" Virgil asked, using his exo-suit that Fuse had retrieved for him to climb down the wall.

"The Mechanic always connects himself to his ship and his Mechas. His cyber parts also make him extra deadly, making it next to impossible to defeat him," Havok said, then pushed off the wall, landing on the footpath below, grunting as she landed. "That USB device contains a polymorphic virus." She paused as Scott and Virgil landed on the footpath, then continued. "You two need to sneak on board the Mechanic's ship – we'll distract him – and you two have to disconnect one of the cables and plug the USB in the socket. There is an extra socket on the other end of the USB, to which you will plug the cable in that end and then upload the virus, which will travel down to the Mechanic and also be uploaded in the ship's systems, shutting down the ship and the Mechanic's machine parts, making it easy for us to kill him."

"Wait. You want to _kill_ the Mechanic?" Virgil asked as they walked down the street.

"What did you think we were going to do? Knock him out and arrest him?" Fuse asked.

Scott and Virgil looked at each other. They had not been sure what Fuse and Havok had in mind, but they certainly had not expected murder.

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

One of the servants ( a human one ) was pushing a trolley loaded with dishes towards the kitchen, when his watch, which doubled as a communication device, beeped. Checking that no-one was around, he quickly put the trolley off to one side and ducked into a nearby Men's Toilets. It was empty, and he ducked into one of the cubicles. Then he answered the call. "Lady Penelope, with all due respect, we need to find a way to be more discreet," said the man, Penelope's secret contact in Buckingham Palace.

 _"No time for that,"_ said Penelope. _"Listen, I need a favour from you, Ralph._ _It is really important."_

"What is it?" Ralph queried. "Make it quick."

 _"You and I both know that World Parliament, GDF, and World Council are absolutely corrupt._ _But we need a way to prove it and expose them,"_ Penelope began, speaking quickly. There was some background noise, some rumbling sound from her end. _"Gather all evidence and information you have that proves how corrupt they are. Then put it all in a file and send it to that reporter, Kat Cavanaugh, and do it as an anonymous tip-off, using one of your anonymous email addresses. Say in the email that she needs to conduct an investigation and broadcast it out to the world. Can you do that?"_

"Yeah, I reckon, ma'am," Ralph grunted.

 _"Oh, and one more thing,"_ Penelope continued and she told him about the plans that the Parliament, Council and GDF had for England to make Bridgette join. _"Can you somehow film it, or something to that effect which doesn't blow your cover to gather as evidence, and add it into the file?"_

"Yes, Lady Penelope," Ralph agreed. "Now, I really have to get back to work."

 _"That is all, anyway. Thank you and I'll send you your payment for this once it's done,"_ Penelope told him.

"Use the Swiss account." Penelope agreed and they hung up.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

"Did he h'agree, m'lady?" Parker questioned.

"Yes, Parker," Penelope smiled. "Now to contact my other friends in the Australian and North Korean government to add to the evidence."

 **TRAFALGAR SQUARE**

The Mechanic stood by the large statue of Horatio Nelson in the centre of Trafalgar Square and searched the area. No sign of the Hood or anyone. London seemed to be empty of anyone. Parts of it had been destroyed, but that was to do with that attack. He switched to infra-red scan, but still no sign of the Hood. The Mechanic turned and headed for the National Gallery. He decided he would stay in there until the Hood showed up. He signaled the Mechas to follow him in. He intended to use them in his fight against the Hood.

He was prepared. Now all he had to do was wait.

 **BUCKINGHAM PALACE**

They all sat down in the room for the meeting. Queen Bridgette seated herself infront of everyone. "So, you all demanded this meeting, saying it was important. I believe you people said it was to have the final discussion about the issue of whether or not I would join the World Parliament," Bridgette began. "Let's get on with it."

"We still demand you join Britain to the Parliament," Gregory Lucas stated. "There was a law signed by _a king and queen of Britain_ that Parliament would rule England. You are breaking that law by rebelling against us."

Bridgette sighed. "Yes, but you have abused that power. You have done terrible, terrible things, and I am not going to stand by and let that happen. I am not joining so that you can force me to do your vulgar deeds." They sighed and grumbled about it. She looked over at the Hood, who was standing in a corner, holding a iPad. She then faced the crowd. "Why is it so important to you that I join?"

"No-one should be free and independent. Everyone should be under the World Parliament," Kim Un replied. "You do not have the right to be free. You do not have the right to go against the World Parliament. You HAVE to join us."

"No!"

Andrei Petrov, the Russian leader and head of the World Parliament, steps forward, brandishing a gun. "I would strongly recommend that you agree to join us, otherwise things will get rather nasty."

"Oh, really?" And she nods at the Hood, who pressed a button on the iPad he was holding. "You mean with this?"

The doors to the room, which had been shut, burst open and the cyborg and robot guards and servants entered the room, all brandishing every type of advanced arsenal. They all point them at the World leaders and members of Parliament and the Council.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/**

Rae, Alan, and Gordon had been on guard in the corridor, when suddenly all the guards and servants had suddenly began heading somewhere in the palace in a formation. They had decided to follow, pretending to be part of the group and then found themselves in the room where the meeting was being held. _Well, this is an awkward predicament_ , Rae thought.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Parker, Penelope, Kerry, Adam, and Kayo climbed out of the vehicle, toting weapons. They had parked across the road from Buckingham Palace. They were stopped by two of the guards. "You must have authorisation from the World Parliament to enter," one of the guards stated. A red light beamed from his left eye, scanning them. _A cyborg_ , Kayo thought.

"Here's my authorisation," and Kayo and Penelope shot them with a tranq gun. They also tranquilized the other guards. Some robots surged forward. Parker stepped forward and shot them with a laser gun, a weapon he had discovered in the vehicle. The robots exploded. Grabbing other guns from the knocked out guards, they headed for the palace entrance.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

 _We have to do something_ , Alan thought. Bridgette stood up, looking Petrov straight in the eye. The Hood came over and stood beside her. "Traitor," Alan heard Petrov mutter, along with other profanities. He saw the Hood's cybernetic eye turn on as he looked at Bridgette. "I think you'll find, Andrei, that your little plan is not going to work," she said. Alan noticed that the Hood had an evil grin on his face when she said that, and he fixed Bridgette with the cyber eye. _He's controlling her!_ Alan realized. _But, she's not in any way a cyborg or robot. She's against cybernetics. How can he be controlling her? And, why do they seem to be working together?_

"So, you told her, Hood?" Andrei spat. The Hood smiled a mock apologetic smile. _Oh! He told her, and now she thinks that he is on the good side?!_ Alan worked out. Andrei turned back to Bridgette. "Now that you have the power here, what are you going to do?"

"Here's what _I_ am going to do," the Hood corrected and with that, he touched something on the iPad screen and the cyborgs and robots fired at the World leaders, killing them all. Alan felt his stomach lurch at the sight. "Now," and the Hood turned to Bridgette, "we can get rid of International Rescue and the Mechanic." Bridgette grinned, delight on her face at the thought. Alan's blood boiled. He did not care anything about the Mechanic, but he sure as hell was not going to let them destroy International Rescue. He, Gordon, and Rae left the room with the cyborgs and robots.

Bridgette exited the room, but not the Hood. Feeling so angry, and not thinking, Alan launched himself at Bridgette, his fist colliding with her nose. She had been taken off guard and they both fell to the floor, fighting each other. Gordon and Rae began fighting the cyborgs and robots, blasting them with laser guns and armour-piercing rounds. They failed to notice the Hood slip away into another room where other robots and cyborgs were waiting for him. They exited the palace through a side exit, heading for Trafalgar Square. He was surprised some of his inventions had rebelled, but then he figured that they were not any of the cyborgs or robots, but someone else in disguise. Whoever they were did not matter. He had strategically placed bombs around the palace. He would just blow it to pieces, getting rid of them and everyone else once he had dealt with the Mechanic.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T**

Scott and Virgil were being watched by Havok while Fuse checked to see if the Mechanic had left his ship. Fuse had been gone for a little bit, and Havok was becoming nervous that Fuse had been discovered. But then Fuse dropped down from the roof of a building where he had perched himself to watch. "All clear. He suddenly left his plane with several of the Wasp and Scorpion Mechas. Even the Funnel-Web Mecha," Fuse reported. Havok's eyes went wide with fear at the mention of the Funnel-Web. "He must be going to kill someone with all those Mechas. I stayed there to see if he would come back, but he hasn't. Anyway, you two now have the chance to sneak in and plant the polymorphic virus."

"Any Mechas around on guard?" Scott asked, not eager to meet any.

"He didn't seem to have anything guarding his plane, which is strange," Fuse replied.

 _Odd_ , thought Scott.

"Havok and I," Fuse continued, "will follow – I saw what direction he went in – while you two sneak past the Mechas and plant the virus. _Comprende_?" They nodded. They did not have a choice. Havok and Fuse then climbed up to the roof of the building and began following by leaping from roof to roof. Virgil and Scott went in the direction of where Fuse said the Mechanic's plane was. They peeked around a corner and sure enough, Fuse was being honest. There was no Mechas, no nothing around. Nothing was guarding the plane. Scott shrugged and headed forward.

"This is easy," he commented. Virgil followed reluctantly.

"Too easy," he replied. "Let's be very careful." They went over to the plane, but nothing jumped out at them or attacked them. They entered the plane after blasting the biometric scanner by the door and the door. With weapons ready to fire at anything that attacked them, they began going through the plane, trying to find the controls. They began following the Mechanic's cables to find where they were plugged in. Virgil drew up short, a frown on his face.

"What is it, Virge?" Scott enquired. Virgil put a finger to his lips and Scott listened. There was a faint scuttling noise, then silence. Looking behind them, they saw Scorpion Mechas that had been in hiding in the plane scuttling towards them, the stinger raised. "RUN!" Virgil and Scott turned and ran, following the cables. Scott turned on his laser gun while running. He whipped around and fired at the Mechas, blasting them. He turned around and they kept going. They arrived in the engine room.

Then a Wasp Mecha suddenly appeared and flew at them. They ducked and rolled, Virgil firing at it. But he missed and more Wasps came at them. Virgil stood up and saw that the cables were plugged in the engine room. Scott also saw it while trying to hit one of the Wasp Mechas. Trouble was that they kept literally vanishing and then appearing again in another place, always trying to electrocute Scott and Virgil. "Go!" he ordered. Virgil nodded and ran. All he had to do was cross a catwalk, climb a ladder that had a cage built around it for protection and kept out of the Mechas reach and _voila!_

He was halfway up the caged ladder when a Scorpion Mecha landed at the bottom of the ladder and began climbing up the ladder. Virgil hurried up the ladder, only to have another Scorpion Mecha arrive at the top of the caged ladder and start climbing down towards him. He was trapped.

Scott did not see the Wasp Mecha coming up behind him. It stung him, giving him an electric shock. He collapsed to the ground, his vision blurring in and out. He was having trouble concentrating. Because of this, he also did not notice a Python Mecha that had camouflaged to look like the floor begin to wrap itself around him.

 **Was going to have this the second to last chapter, but is becoming too long, so am going to have to divide this in two. Hope you enjoyed this!**


	19. Chapter 19

Lady Penelope, Parker, Kerry, Adam, and Kayo entered Buckingham Palace. There was sounds of shooting and fighting somewhere nearby, so in case it was Rae, Gordon, and Alan, they headed in the direction, Kayo and Penelope leading.

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

Gordon grappled one of the cyborgs to the floor, trying to take the Gatling gun for himself. But the cyborg was stronger, being part machine, and pushed Gordon off herself and punched him in the face, causing Gordon to slide across the floor a few feet. He groaned and tried to push himself back up, but the female cyborg pressed one of her feet on the back of his neck, pinning Gordon to the floor. He felt a gun pressed to the back of his head.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Penelope and Kayo entered the hallway and saw Rae, Alan, and Gordon fighting. Penelope's heart almost stopped when she saw a cyborg pinning Gordon to the ground, a gun at his head. Taking the laser gun from Parker, she yelled without thinking: "Leave my boyfriend alone!" And she fired a laser bolt at the cyborg, blowing off the cyborg's head. The body collapsed onto Gordon, who pushed it off and began fighting again.

Two robots charged at Kayo, who delivered a karate kick to one, sending it flying. The second one fired at her. She ducked and tackled it to the ground, taking the gun off it, before shooting the robot until sparks flew and it collapsed. Parker helped Rae by delivering a 'Parker 'Aymaker', causing a few cyborgs and robots some serious damage.

Having defeated the cyborgs and robots, they checked each other to make sure no-one was hurt. Kerry and Adam had been hidden by Parker, and now came out. "Where's Bridgette?" Rae asked Alan after she declared that he was okay.

"While fighting her, she punched me, causing me to pass out for a minute. But when I came to, she was gone. I don't know where she went or where she is," Alan explained dejectedly. Rae placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault," she comforted him.

"Yeah, Squirt," Gordon voiced his agreement.

"Now what?" Kayo asked. Her comms beeped and she accepted the call. John's hologram appeared.

 _"Guys – and ladies – EOS has alerted me to the fact that the Hood with a group of cyborgs and robots, is going through London. Not sure where he's going, though. But, I'm tracking him,"_ John informed them.

"What's Dad's take on all this?" Gordon questioned.

 _"Dad says that it's up to you, but he would prefer if you went after him to catch him,"_ John replied.

"We'll do it," Kayo piped up. "Send us his co-ordinates and we'll be on our way."

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Fuse and Havok crouched down on a roof, peering into Trafalgar Square. They had followed the Mechanic there. Now they just had to find where he and his Mechas had hidden. Then, they spotted the Mechanic, but not his Mechas, come out of the National Gallery. Havok and Fuse were waiting for the message from Scott and Virgil that the virus had been planted. The Mechanic walked down the steps and stood with his arms crossed over his chest at the bottom. _Who's he waiting for?_ Havok silently wondered. Then, from the southwest, to their surprise, the Hood came around The Mall and stood by the statue of Horatio Nelson, facing the Mechanic. _This looks to be interesting_ , thought Havok.

The Mechanic came towards him. "So you've arrived at last, Hood," the Chaos Crew heard the Mechanic commented with his deep and scrambled voice. They began to circle one another.

The Mechanic had a small circular device on his shoulder. While circling the Hood, he had turned on the device, which emitted an EMF, a small, focused one, at the Hood, which turned off his cyber parts. The Hood was not aware of any of any EMF beam on him, or of the fact that his machine parts had been turned off. "Yes. How have you been?" the Hood asked with a leer on his face.

"How 'bout we just get on with it?" the Mechanic said.

The Hood smiled and the Mechanic stopped in surprise as several cyborgs and robots gathered behind the Hood, weapons armed. Mad as hell, the Mechanic pointed his finger at the Hood. "This was just meant to be YOU AND ME!"

"I never said that," and the Hood tried to flash his cybernetic eye, but it would not come on. _Huh?_ he thought. The Mechanic chuckled and raised his arms. The Hood drew back in surprise as several Scorpion and Wasp Mechas crawled out of the National Gallery and charged at the Hood and his army. The cyborgs and robots, seeing that their leader was about to be attacked, also charged forward.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

Virgil thought fast. He was trapped – in a caged ladder of all things – and did not know what to do. He sure did not want to be electrocuted, though. "Virgil!" A cry came. It was Scott. He was struggling to speak. He quickly looked through the cage and saw that a Python Mecha was wrapping itself around Scott, squeezing him. Scott was trying to speak, but having difficulty. Fuse had given him a Laser Blaster. Turning it on, he aimed and fired at the one coming to him from below, destroying it. He then slid down the rest of the ladder.

The Python continued to squeeze Scott. It was now up to his chest. At the bottom, Virgil was aiming, when the Scorpion from above landed on top of him, knocking him down. Virgil pushed it off and crushed it with his fist, due to the extra strength from his 'Jaws of Life'. Virgil aimed the Laser Blaster at the Python Mecha's head, and fired. The head exploded. The body twitched and squirmed before finally shutting down. In it's squirming, it had dropped Scott, who was on the floor, gasping for breath. Virgil ran over to Scott and, with his Wrist Pad on his exo-suit, he did a Med Scan on Scott.

Tension left his shoulder as the results showed that Scott had no serious damage. "You alright, Scotty?" he asked after Scott had gotten his breath back and stood up.

Scott nodded. "Yeah. Heck of a shot," he complimented, with a grin. "Planted the virus yet?"

Virgil shook his head. "Had some trouble of my own and I had to save your ugly mug," he joked.

Scott laughed "Well, let's go do it before any other Mechas arrive."

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Kayo, Kerry, Adam, Alan, Gordon, Penelope, Parker and Rae arrived behind The Mall. They waited while Rae and Kayo went to spy on what the Hood was doing. There was a sound of some fight going on. Very soon, the girls ran back. "The Hood and the Mechanic are fighting each other while the Mechanic's Mechas are battling the Hood's cyborgs and robots," Rae reported.

"The Hood, though, is losing. For some reason, he is not using his machine parts to combat the Mechanic," Kayo noted, a confused look on her face.

"So, what do we do? Join in?" Alan asked hopefully. Lady Penelope called into Tracy Island and informed Jeff of the situation, asking for advice.

 _"Right now, it is best to stay put. If necessary, get involved, otherwise stay out of it,"_ was Jeff's advice.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/**

Scott and Virgil arrived at the place where the cables were plugged in. "Okay. Quickly. Find a cable and do what Havok and Fuse said to do," Scott ordered, keeping watch for anymore Mechas. Virgil studied the cables. Not sure which one to pick, he just decided on the one which gave him a good gut feeling. He was just about to unplug it, when Scott spoke. "Uh, Virgil?" he asked in an unusually casual voice. "Wasp Mechas coming."

"Well, you have the laser gun," Virgil remarked, pulling out the cable out of it's socket. He inserted the USB, then fitted the end of the cable on the socket at the other end of the USB. He heard Scott fire. He pressed a button on the USB, which began uploading the virus. "Alright. Done. Let's get out of here." He turned around, and quickly ducked as a Wasp Mecha swooped in low, Scott was trying to blast it with the laser gun. They quickly climbed down the ladder and ran across the catwalk. Suddenly, the catwalk began tilting to the side, a trap of the Mechanic's. Virgil jumped to the other side and reached out for Scott. But the catwalk had tilted too far and Scott began sliding off. His hands desperately searched for a handhold.

But he could not find one.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

The Mechanic felt his machine parts power down. Suddenly, because he had more cybernetic parts than the Hood, his movements became restricted as the machine parts became like a dead weight. That also turned off his EMF beam, which allowed the Hood's machine parts to be reactivated and he flashed his cybernetic eye, enjoying every moment of the Mechanic's agony.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/**

 _ **Not quite the same time...**_

Scott grabbed the ledge of the catwalk and held on for dear life. "Scott! You okay?" he heard Virgil calling down to him. He looked over and saw that Virgil was trying to work out a way across the catwalk to get to Scott. Once his heart stopped racing, he gave Virgil a half-smile.

"Nothing to worry about," he joked. "Just hanging around."

Virgil let out a chuckle as he began precariously walking along the side of the catwalk that had been tilted upwards to the spot where Scott was. Virgil gripped the catwalk as it swung again. "Scott! Stop swinging!" he shouted. He managed to become still and Virgil carefully continued walking towards him."Why does Havok and Fuse call this a plane?" Scott heard his younger brother mutter. "It's a very big ship."

"Havok and Fuse," seethed Scott. "They owe me ten pizzas with ALOT of cheese and anchovies. And they pay."

Virgil was almost there. He laughed. "I'm deserve two weeks' worth of being waited on after this is finished. At _least_ ," he joked. Well, one quarter joking, anyway. He was now right above Scott and bent down, holding out his hand, the gears in the 'Jaws of Life' whirring. "Let go with one hand-"

"-And grab your hand and you'll pull me up. Got it," Scott finished. He let go with one hand and reached for Virgil's hand.

Two Wasp Mechas then appeared out of nowhere and, using a laser cutter from their eyes, quickly cut through the support beams that were holding up the rest of the catwalk and it plummeted towards the ground.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

"He's gonna' kill the Mechanic. We need to save him," Penelope instructed.

"WHAT!?" exclaimed Kerry and Adam.

"We're International _Rescue_. We save people. It's what we do," Alan pointed out. "Even if we don't want to," he muttered under his breath.

"Come on," Kayo said as she, Rae, Lady Penelope and Parker stood up. "Gordon and Alan, Kerry and Adam, you lot stay here. Only get involved if it's necessary," Kayo added before they entering Trafalgar Square. "Hey! Hood!" she yelled, to get his focus off the Mechanic. The Mechas and the Hood's army had both destroyed each other.

It worked. The Hood turned towards her, his cybernetic eye turned off. "Kayo. How come _you_ always manage to turn up?" he asked.

 **UP IN SPACE**

"Commander! Commander!"

Commander 657 snapped out of her dozing and sat up straight in her chair in the Commander's Cabin in their large spacecraft, designed to look just like the _Millenium Falcon_. Someone was pounding on the door, shouting for her. "Who is it?" she called out.

"M2943," was the response. 'M' was for male. "It's urgent! To do with the Mechanic!"

That got her fully awake and she remotely opened the door and M2943 floated in with his black, curly hair and piercing brown eyes. Commander 657 would have fallen for him if she already was not in love with someone else – her boyfriend, the Mechanic. Commander 657 did not float as she was strapped into her seat. M2943 saluted. "What is it, M2943?" she demanded. She was beautiful, with wavy brown hair and blue eyes, but she had an imposing and intimidating expression on her face at all times, except when she was alone, or with the Mechanic.

"I have detected that someone has planted a polymorphic virus into the Mechanic and his ship, throughout that entire system."

She frowned. "Isn't a polymorphic virus difficult to detect because they both encrypt and change their coding?"

M2943 nodded. "Difficult, but not impossible. We have the technology now to detect them. The Hood is trying to kill him, but International Rescue is trying to _save_ him." Commander 657 was shocked. Why would IR, an organisation they positively loathed, try to rescue the Mechanic from the Hood? She was grateful, but that meant she now owed them. And she hated owing anyone.

"We have access to that system?" She asked. M2943 nodded. "Great. Get in there and kill the virus and put up those newly-designed defenses to protect him and the system from further attacks." M2943 saluted and left to do just that.

 **TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON, ENGLAND**

Fuse watched as the Hood was distracted by his niece, Kayo. The Mechanic was still down, not being able to move much because of his mechanical parts being turned off. _Hate to admit, but well down Scott and Virgil_ , he silently praised. He took hold of his rifle and rested it against the roof's ledge. He fixed the sights until the Mechanic's head was directly in it.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

As soon as the Wasp Mechas had started cutting through the support beams, Virgil had yanked Scott up and, throwing him over his shoulder, began heading back as swiftly as he could. But, the Wasps had cut through it before they got off, and the catwalk began to plummet. Virgil threw Scott onto the landing and then jumped, managing to grab the ledge. He waited two minutes to steady himself and then pulled himself up, with Scott's help. They noticed that the Wasp Mechas were lying nearby, their power off. Without a word, they got up and ran back outside and down into the street. Once they had turned a corner into another street, Scott looked at Virgil. "Make that sixteen pizzas."

Virgil and Scott laughed togehter. "Now what do we do?" Virgil asked, rubbing a kink out of his neck.

"Your comms on the 'Jaws of Life' still work?" Scott questioned. Virgil nodded. "Might as well call Tracy Island and Thunderbird 5."

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

The Mechanic was being taken away by...Oh, great! That British aristocrat, her chauffeur, and that female, Rae Levy. He had never seen her before, and he kept glancing at her. Something kept nagging at him about her. She was familiar from somewhere, before he became started the crime business for that family. He felt his mechanical parts start up again and he began to be able to freely move. He stood up, pushing them away. They were by The Mall. He narrowed his eyes, looking at each of them, his gaze lingering on Rae. _Why is she familiar?_ "Why did you rescue me?" he demanded to know.

Rae smirked. "Duh. It's in the name," she replied. There was a pause. "For the same reason that Brains rescued you," she added quietly. The Mechanic had turned around while Rae was speaking, intending to just leave, but he stopped without turning around when she mentioned what the engineer had done for him. Surprising that he had done that, considering how they used to be work associates and never liked each other. But, Brains had not known that then, and the Mechanic had to admit, Hiram was a brilliant man.

"Tell him...thanks," and the Mechanic continued on his way, not looking back. He had never used that word before, so it felt weird. They did not come after him as there was no-one around to arrest him. He went off to a hiding spot nearby to wait for Commander 657 to call.

That's when Fuse jumped down infront of him.

 **SPACE**

 _"Commander 657, this is M2943."_

"Continue," Commander 657 ordered.

 _"I have killed the virus and put up the defenses. The Mechanic has been saved by IR, but he has left him, but Fuse and Havok are trying to kill him,"_ M2943 reported.

She turned on the comms to the Bridge. "Bridge, this is Commander 657," she said.

 _"Commander 657, this is F308,"_ was the response. 'F' was for female.

"Get everybody ready and armed. We're going to Earth. Destination: Trafalgar Square, London, England," she ordered. F308 acknowledged the order and they hung up. Soon they were flying at warp speed that would get them from Mars to Earth in just a few minutes.

 **TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON, ENGLAND**

Kayo swung her leg up to hit the Hood between the legs, but he grabbed her leg and twisted it before she could react. Then he threw her roughly to the ground, using his cyber-strength. Her leg hurting like hell, she stood up, only for her uncle to punch her in the solar plexus, then the face. She lay on the ground, curled up in pain. "You should know to keep your pesky nose out of my business!" and he kicked her hard in the stomach.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

After calling in to a relieved and surprised family, Scott and Virgil were updated on everything and were now heading for the Square to help the rest of the family. All Virgil and Scott could think of was their family. Caught in the angry battle of the Mechanic and the Hood. _Please be alright!_ they were praying. _Please don't die!_

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

"Why are you doing this?" Kayo choked out.

"Why?" the Hood repeated. "You already know that I was working with Colonel Casey, who I might add, is now _dead_. I was to help her stop Diana Winters from pursuing the message in the USB. Then, she and the World Parliament and Council invited me to come to the meeting where they planned to force Bridgette to join the World Parliament. But, because of IR, that didn't work!" and he kicked her in the face. Blood came out of her nose. "I was attempting to get rid of the Mechanic as he had killed the Chaos Crew! But, there was something else. Still going to happen because nothing is going to stop me!"

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T**

Havok grabbed the Mechanic from behind. He tried to fight back, but she quickly gave him a shot from a syringe which dulled his mind and strength. He could not fight back. "You're alive?" the Mechanic said incredulously.

Havok and Fuse snorted with laughter. "And want to be rid of you!" He raised his rifle and took aim. Havok noticed that the Mechanic pushed a little lever on his Wrist Controls for his Mechas, but nothing happened. She dismissed it. Fuse's finger rested on the trigger. **THUD! THUD! THUD!** Havok and Fuse looked at each other in confusion. Looking up, Havok almost had a panic attack. The Funnel-Web Mecha stood over them, it's deadly pinchers which emitted a killing electric shock. The Chaos Crew dropped the Mechanic and ran for their very lives.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

"I only agreed to go to the meeting," the Hood continued, " because I had a separate agenda that Colonel Casey and no-one else knew about. Surprises. The leader of World Parliament, Andrei Petrov, is - _was_ \- not the real leader. Even he was a puppet. The real leaders is in hiding. I know where the two siblings are and who they are. They should never have been leader. But their particular family branch won the challenge. They became the world leaders, ignoring all their workers. Only caring about themselves. I planned to kill them all and take over as the new world leader. I will be adored for generations to come!

"I thought you once said that you weren't interested in ruling the world," said Alan. The Hood looked around him. Penelope, Parker, Gordon, Alan, and Rae stood around him and his niece in a circle, all aiming weapons at him.

"I am going to own the world. I will have people ruling the countries under me. But I will make the decisions. I will be just," he bragged.

"Hardly," Kayo muttered.

"Try and fire at me, and she'll die," and the Hood aimed his gun at Kayo's heart. "I can pull the trigger faster than you lot can kill me. What will it be?" They all lowered their weapons slightly, defeat filling their faces. _Good. Now just to kill her anyway..._

But before he could, a shadow fell across him. Across all of Trafalgar Square. A very large shadow. Looking up, his eyes widen in fear. _No! The other family!_ he thought in fear. A large spacecraft had suddenly materialised right above Trafalgar Square. "The _Millenium Falcon_!" Alan exclaimed excitedly. The Hood tried to run away, but a beam of light shone on him and he literally disappeared into thin air.

Rae looked at the others in confusion. After the Hood had just vanished, three other beams of light shone out of the craft before it too just disappeared. "What just happened?" Gordon asked no-one in particular.

"Dude! _Star Wars_ just came true!" Alan piped up. The others burst out laughing. Kerry and Adam came out of hiding and laughed as well.

"Alan, you have a wild imagination," chortled a voice behind Rae. They all turned to look and saw a very relieved looking Scott and Virgil standing there in exo-suits, also looking quite worn out.

"How...?" Rae began, but her voice trailed off.

"Oh, we were saved. By the Chaos Crew," Scott said casually, like it was not important as they walked over. Questions erupted, but Scott silenced them by raising his hand. "I'll explain it all when we get back to Tracy Island," he promised them.

Virgil went over to Rae. "Are you alright?" she asked him, checking him over for any injuries.

"Oh, I'm fine," he said, picking her up in a tight embrace. "Wait on me for three weeks, and I'll be great!" They laughed.

"You'll get that," Rae promised. Then they kissed each other.

Everyone looked around at the mess. But they had done it. Saved London from destruction and stopped the Hood from taking over the world. "Come on," Scott said, linking arms with his family and friends. "Let's go home."

 **UP IN SPACE**

Commander 657 walked into the Brig where the Mechanic, the Hood, Fuse and Havok were being held in separate transparent tubes. It froze them in place so that they could not move. She looked at them all, studying the Hood and his Chaos Crew, the minions who worked for that family. She turned to MDRT6. "Release the Mechanic. Keep the others in there until we arrive at the base where our leader can decide what to do with them," she ordered. MDRT6 saluted and pressed a button just outside the Mechanic's tube, which descended into the floor. The Mechanic took a couple of minutes to start moving again, then he followed Commander 657 to the Commander's Cabin.

"You fool!" she yelled at him. "Why did you involve International Rescue in making those batteries?! When the boss asked you to find someone who creates advanced technology to do that, I don't think he meant involving THEM!"

The Mechanic shrugged. "Hiram is the best of the best. I didn't have a choice. But now that I've lost the bargaining chips..."

"Because of your mercenaries which you _FAILED TO DISPOSE OF_! It's your fault!" she snapped. She had been so worried about him, and was letting it all out in her favourite form of speaking – yelling at someone. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I'm sorry. After we discovered that, the boss contacted the others. They have an even better engineer, as it turns out, and he will get here in almost three months time. Their teleporter is broken. But, when they get here, it will take them only a few days after starting to finish."

"Then, we can launch," the Mechanic concluded.

 **Only one more chapter left, then I am done with this story. Until next time.**


	20. Epilogue

**This is an epilogue/aftermath chapter for _this_ story. I will do a sequel to _Dangerous Secrets_ at some point.**

 _ **About a month later...**_

Scott exited his bedroom, a smile on his face. He had a surprise for Kerry and Adam, and he knew that they would love it. After the whole incident in London, Bridgette had been found lying down unconscious in a partly destroyed building. Turned out that after the Hood had snuck out of Buckingham Palace, that had slightly weakened his hold of her, and she had started to realize that he was controlling her, so quickly escaped and tried to get somewhere far away from the Hood to try and break free.

At the same time that the Hood had been zapped up by the beam of light, the Hood's influence over her broke. But because it was so sudden, she had passed out. Kat Cavanaugh had conducted the investigation as part of her show and the conclusion was that the World Parliament, World Council and GDF were evil and guilty of trying to force Britain to join. There were a long list of crimes, none of them pretty. Of course, by then, they were all dead. International Rescue and Bridgette provided evidence that the Hood and the Mechanic were involved with the World Parliament as well. Bridgette was still Queen. London was still undergoing rebuilding after the diversion, elections had been going on around the world and honest people were now leading. The new leaders had scrapped the World Parliament and World Council and the GDF.

Scott patted his jacket pocket where the documents were. He grinned as he imagined Kerry's and Adam's reaction. Gordon suddenly burst out of his room, looking really worried. "What is it, Gordo?" Scott asked.

Gordon looked relieved when he saw his eldest brother. "Oh, Scott! Quick, before Penny arrives – how do I look?"

"Alright. But, where's your tie?" Scott told him.

Gordon groaned. "That is one darn impossible thing! I can't work out how to do the tie," he confessed.

"Well you need it. You're going with Penny tonight to the Mid-Summer Ball," Scott informed him. "I'll show you how."

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/**

The space elevator landed safely on Tracy Island. "Have a great time, John," EOS called after him as John exited the elevator.

"Thanks, EOS!" he called back, giving a little affectionate wave, before heading down the ramp. He hated social functions, was _way_ too shy. His family had tried to get him to go with them to the Mid-Summer Ball, but he adamantly refused. He was not ever doing that again after the last time. He entered the changing room and took off his uniform and changed into his checkered long-sleeved top and blue trousers. He said hello to Brains, who was on the phone to Moffat (making sure she could make it to the ball) and went up the stairs to the lounge. Kayo was still in the infirmary after her fight with her uncle. She was healing, but she had some internal damage and she was forced to lie down. Virgil and Rae did not want to leave her, so John decided to come down to keep an eye on her and keep her company. The latter part was the main reason – he really wanted to be with her.

Everyone was down there, all ready and waiting for Scott and Gordon, who were absent. Penelope, Parker, and Sherbet still had not arrived yet. Kerry, Adam, and Alan were all playing a virtual video game. They had all really bonded over the last few weeks. Kerry was the best player of them all and had already beaten Alan's best score. Adam looked up as John entered the room. "Hi, John!" he greeted and abandoned the game to give him a big, bear hug. Adam had bonded especially with John afterwards – they discovered that they had common interests – and, if John was down on Earth all the time, they would be inseparable. They were like brothers, constantly texting each other. John returned the hug.

"Hey, Squirt," John greeted, ruffling his hair. "Nice suit."

"Thanks! Wish you could come," Adam put on a pleading face. John adamantly shook his head as he backed away.

"Oh no,no,no! I don't party." He looked at the others. "Where's Scott and Gordon?"

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B**

Scott finished tying the tie. "There! All done," he announced. Gordon did not have a mirror in his room, though it was surprisingly tidy. Probably a good thing there were no mirrors, though, as Scott was getting pay back on several pranks Gordon had pulled on him. "You'll slay Penny with that, bro!" he told Gordon.

Gordon smiled. "Really?"

"You bet." Then they heard the sound of a car coming into land. "They've arrived. Come on, let's go downstairs." And they walked downstairs, Scott making sure he was behind Gordon. Downstairs, in the lounge, Penny was inside talking to the others. Sherbet was keeping Parker occupied. Gordon was mesmerized by Penny, who was dressed in a white silk dress, white high-heels and white gloves. Her hair was done in a bun and she had diamond earrings on. _She's gorgeous!_ Gordon thought.

A cough brought him back to Earth. "Earth calling Gordon. Hello?" Alan waved his hand infront of Gordon's face.

"Right. Sorry. Here," Gordon apologised, feeling so embarrassed. Then he noticed everyone was looking at him with a confused look on their faces. "What is it?" he asked nervously.

Scott, Virgil and Rae, Kerry, Adam, Alan, and Jeff just turned around with stifled smiles and walked out to the plane they were using to fly to America. Gordon looked at the others, confused himself. "What's the matter? Is there something on my face?" he asked.

Grandma Tracy sighed. "Son, you have weird ideas about fashion," she stated and then focused on the book she was reading. Because she was so old, she decided she wanted to stay behind and get some peace and quiet.

John simply went down to the Infirmary to visit Kayo. "Penny? Seriously, what?" he asked.

Penelope laughed. "Gordon, dear, why are you wearing a yellow tie with pink polka dots?" she questioned.

Gordon knew who was to blame. "SCOTT! Get back here!" he shouted as he ran after his eldest brother.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T/B/T**

Kayo heard a rumble as the plane and FAB 1 launched. She missed them. She didn't mind being stuck in the Infirmary as she had an excuse not to go as she was not shy, just hated social functions as she had to 'dress up' for the occasion. Brains was tinkering in his lab with MAX's assistance. After Virgil and Scott had arrived back home after the incident in London was over, Brains had destroyed the batteries he had been making for the Mechanic as well as the designs for them. She was tired of books and was tired of watching TV.

Then a knock sounded on the door. "Who is it?" she called out, surprised.

In response, the door opened and in walked the handsome John Tracy. "John?" she said in joyous surprise.

"Virgil and Rae were worried about leaving you with only Brains, MAX, and Grandma for company, so I agreed to come and stay with you – as c-company – until they got back," John explained. "We thought I should surprise you."

He came over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. He pulled a chair over and sat down beside the bed. "What do you want to do?" he asked, flashing his adorable smile.

"Can you cook dinner?" Kayo queried.

"No. But I can whip us up something with the Automated Kitchen Module," he offered.

"That'll be great!"

John stood up and teasingly bowed. "H'anything h'else, m'lady?" he asked, perfectly mimicking Parker's accent, causing her to laugh.

"Hmm...A movie?" she suggested, the thought of more TV didn't seem so bad now that John was there. "You can pick." John agreed and left to get them some dinner.

 **T/B/T/B/T/B/T/**

On the plane, Scott suddenly remembered his surprise for Kerry and Adam. He pulled out the documents. "Adam and Kerry?" he said casually.

"Yeah, Scott?" Kerry said. He handed her and her brother the documents.

"Read them," he instructed. They both began reading them together. Adam looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.

"You've adopted us?" he asked in a choked up voice. Scott barely got to nod before Kerry and Adam embraced him, all three of them crying. He returned the embrace.

"Happy birthday, Adam," he whispered. Adam smiled.

 _ **Half an hour later...**_

Kayo and John did not feel like much, so settled on grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches. John sauntered into the Infirmary and handed Kayo her dinner. He then waved a DVD infront of her face. "Do you want to watch _Sahara_?" he suggested.

"Yes," she agreed. John turned on the TV and put the DVD in the player. Grabbing the remote, he lay down on the bed next to her, wrapping an arm around her while eating his dinner, like they had done when they were little kids. She snuggled into him. John turned on the film and they watched the movie while eating dinner. Halfway through the film, John opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again. "What?" she asked, wanting to tell him how she felt about him.

They both looked at each other and blurted out in unison: "I love you."

 _ **Somewhere around the world...**_

"This is so annoying!" the older woman snapped, venting her frustration and anger. She looked at her brother. "We were ruling the world just fine. Now, because of the Hood and International Rescue, our world government is in shatters. It's been scrapped."

"Good thing no-one knew that we even existed. But, we do need to stay in hiding just in case _they_ find our trail," her brother commented.

"Yeah!" she spat. " _Their_ family branch was the only one of to survive that challenge our grandmother had us do, other than us. Now, they are out there somewhere and we are no longer able to control the globe!"

"They are a threat," he agreed. "I don't know what they plan on doing now that they've taken the Hood and the Chaos Crew, but we will find them and eliminate them and get our control back, I can assure you, sis."

"And we will eliminate International Rescue as well," she vowed.

 **So, I have completed _Dangerous Secrets_. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I am going to write a sequel to this, so don't worry! Thank you to each and every single person who has read and reviewed this tale. I really appreciate it. And thank you to anyone in the future who reads or reviews this. **

_**Au revoir!**_


End file.
